City of Wayland

Important Alert

Tax Information

Where Do My Tax Dollars Go

This contains information and a complete example using calendar year 2017 tax rates and levies for all taxing units that collect taxes off properties in the City of Wayland. Please review the complete document.

Who Gets My Property Tax Payments?

Your taxes you pay to the City of Wayland and to support many different efforts and services. Besides the City, Wayland Schools, Allegan County Intermediate School District, Allegan County Government, County Roads, County Seniors, and the Henika Library all collect taxes based on the value of your property. This means, the City of Wayland collects their taxes and passes it on to these entities. In fact, if you do not have a Principal Residence Exemption, out of every dollar you pay in property taxes, the City receives just 24.4 cents and the other 75.6 cents goes to others. If you have a Principal Residence Exemption, just 33.3 cents of every dollar you pay goes to the City and the rest goes to others.

Who gets a Share of My Taxes?

All of the following get a share of your tax dollars:
• Allegan County Government
• Henika Library
• Allegan Intermediate School District
• City of Wayland Operating
• Wayland Schools Operating
• Wayland Schools Debt Retirement
• Allegan County Senior Services
• Allegan County Roads
• State Education Tax

Why Do I Get Two Tax Bills?

Some taxes are collected in the winter and some are collected in the summer. The example with this is for both your summer and winter 2017 taxes.

How Are My Property Taxes Figured?

It may be confusing, but keep three terms in mind when understanding your property taxes. They are:

True Cash Value: This is the amount (value) that the assessor says your property is worth. In other words, it is the amount that the assessor believes you could get if you were to sell your property.

Assessed Value: By Michigan law, the assessed value is ½ of the True Cash Value.

Taxable Value: By Michigan law, your property taxes have been ‘capped’ and cannot increase faster than other economic factors such as the rate of inflation. The ‘cap’ is removed when a property is sold or transferred to another party. Removing the cap raises the taxable value to equal the Assessed Value. However, the value is then ‘capped’ again. This also leads to confusion as properties with similar True Cash Values can have very different Taxable Values. For example, if the assessor says your home would sell for $100,000, your assessed value would be $50,000. Your ‘taxable value’ would be the same or less – but never more. Your taxable value may be less depending on how long you have lived in the home. That is because state law caps ‘taxable value’.

What is a Principal Residence Exemption?

This used to be called a ‘homestead’ exemption. Now it is called a Principal Residence Exemption. This is a break on your taxes paid for school operating mils only on your principal residence – where you live. A person with one home has only one ‘principal residence.’ A person with two or more homes can still only have one ‘principal residence’ that receives the exemption for school operating mils. For most people, this exemption reduces their taxes significantly. Wayland Public Schools levies 18 mills for operations. Principle Residences are not taxed for these 18 mills.

Can I Figure My Own Property Tax Bill?

Yes, you can figure your own property tax bill. To do this you will need to know your Taxable Value and the number of mills levied as a tax you can figure your tax bill.

What is a Mill?

Taxes are levied as mills. A mill is 1 one-thousandth of something – in this case 1 one-thousandth of your taxable value. Another way to look at it is 1 mill equals $1 per $1,000 dollar of Taxable value.

How Do I Figure My Property Tax Bill?

Now that you know the number of mills and your Taxable Value, to figure your tax bill, use this formula: Take the Taxable Value of your property and divide that by 1,000. Then, multiply that by the number of mills levied. The result is the amount of your property taxes. Follow the three easy steps below.

For Example: A home with a taxable value of $ 75,000.

Step one: Divide $75,000 by 1,000. This equals $75.00

Step two: Multiply the $75 times the number of mills levied. For this example assume 62.9775 mills are levied on your winter and summer tax bills.

Step three: Ta-Da… Your Winter Tax Bill (without a Principal Residence Exemption) will be $4,723.31 ($75 x 62.9775). If this property is your principal residence, the bill is less because the 18 mills for the Wayland Public Schools is removed. The remaining mills levied are 44.9775. Your tax bill is then $3,373.31.

View an Example Property tax Bill