Check this out... Detroit, a city on the brink of bankruptcy...
The City of Detroit has failed for nearly four years to send property tax bills to the owner of the Packard plant, costing the city badly needed cash.
At 3.5 million square feet, the plant is by far the largest derelict property in Detroit.
It wasn't until the Free Press began making inquiries last week that the city's assessor's office returned the property to the tax rolls -- with an assessed value of nearly $1.6 million. The change came nearly four years after a Michigan Supreme Court decision prompted the city to surrender the century-old plant to Bioresource, a company whose last listed corporate representative is a convicted drug dealer.
Last week, less than 18 hours after a reporter questioned why the property was listed as city-owned, the assessor's office changed its status to "taxable." The property's assessed value ballooned from almost nothing to nearly $1.6 million.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/detroit-garbage-pickup-bankruptcy-2010-12#ixzz184SlA52f