The Sun and News, Saturday, March 9, 2024/ Page 7State Treasury providing tax relief
due to federal disaster declaration
Taxpayers in Ionia, Eaton and Kent counties can request additional time
to file tax returns, pay state tax bills
LANSING – With the
Internal Revenue Service
granting tax relief on Feb.
15 after President Biden
approved a federal disaster
declaration for nine
Michigan counties, the
Michigan Department of
Treasury is providing an
opportunity for disaster sur-
vivors to obtain state tax
relief.
Individual and business
taxpayers who reside in
Ionia, Eaton, Kent, Ingham,
Livingston, Macomb,
Monroe, Oakland and
Wayne counties can request
additional time to file state
tax returns and pay state tax
bills, with penalties and
interest waived. These areas
were affected by severe
storms, tornadoes and
flooding from Aug. 24-26,
2023.
“A natural disaster can
be devastating both person-
ally and financially,” State
Treasurer Rachael Eubanks
said. “By providing tax
relief, disaster survivors
will have more time to
focus on recovering and
getting their lives back to a
sense of normalcy.
Taxpayers should reach out
to us to learn more about
the process for obtaining
this relief.”
Individuals unable to
meet filing or payment
deadlines due to this
disaster should contact
Treasury at 517-636-
- Businesses are
asked to call 517-636-
In addition, affected tax-
payers may write to
Treasury to request disas-
ter-related tax relief. When
writing, the following must
be included in the corre-
spondence:
— Name and account
number of the individual or
business taxpayer.
— Reason for the relief
request.
— Taxpayer address
within one disaster area or
address of the tax preparer
located in the disaster
area.
Taxpayers should send
the completed correspon-
dence to the following
address:
Michigan Department of
Treasury; Attn: Disaster
Tax Relief; Lansing,
Michigan 48922Some taxpayers may
receive a preliminary
assessment notice before a
tax relief request is formal-
ly received by Treasury.
Taxpayers within the disas-
ter area who receive these
notices should contact
Treasury by phone to
resolve.
To learn more about
Michigan’s tax system, go
to michigan.gov/taxes.616-891-
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2021 CLAYTON 4BR, 2
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Must have experience
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itive pay. Please call
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interested.Barry County
board cancels its
weekly meeting
The Barry County Board
of Commissioners can-
celed its Tuesday morning
committee of the whole
meeting due to a lack of
agenda items. County busi-
ness has seemingly slowed
down a bit with Tuesday’s
cancelation being the sec-
ond COW meeting that has
been called off in 2024 due
to a lack of agenda items.
Meanwhile, a pending
presentation by Barry
County Sheriff Dar Leaf tolay out the findings of his
long-standing voter fraud
investigation continues to
hang in the balance. Leaf
was originally slated to
present his findings to the
Board of Commissioners
on Feb. 13, but it was post-
poned in order to secure a
larger venue. Leaf told the
Sun and News this week
that he is working on lock-
ing in a date this month,
but it has not yet been
finalized.Barry County making a divot in housing
shortage, per county chairman
Molly Macleod
Copy Editor
Barry County Board of
Commissioners Chair David
Jackson gave a “State of the
County” address at Monday’s
Hastings Rotary Club meet-
ing, detailing the county’s
recent accomplishments,
projects and challenges
looming in the future.
Jackson, a Delton
Rotarian, began by highlight-
ing Barry County’s consis-
tent AA credit rating. He
credited much of the coun-
ty’s accomplishments and
smooth operations to the
work of County
Administrator Michael
Brown, who is retiring later
this year.
“The only reason we can’t
have a AAA credit rating is
because we’re a small coun-
ty,” Brown explained. “...
We have had a AA credit
rating as long as I can
remember, as long as I’ve
been a commissioner. A lot
of that’s because of the lead-
ership of (County
Administrator) Michael
Brown. That (rating) basical-
ly says that you are stable,
you are a good credit risk.”
“Financially, we’re in a
very good position,” said
Jackson.
In 2023, the county made
headway on several key
issues. Jackson highlighted
some of these accomplish-
ments, including the sale of a
Barry County Mental Health
Authority building to the
YMCA of Barry County, the
current construction of
Tyden Lofts and progress
being made toward a new
Commission on Aging build-
ing.
Originally, Jackson said,
county officials were consid-
ering the Mental Health
Authority building as a
potential location for a new
COA building. While the site
was deemed not to be a fit for
the COA, the YMCA
expressed interest in the
property.“(We) started the conver-
sation with Jon Sporer and
the YMCA and talked about
all of the programs benefit-
ting the youth, benefiting
childcare, which is one of the
boxes we were trying to
check in the county. That
was a big win for the county
in our minds,” said Jackson.
One large accomplishment
highlighted was the number
of housing units planned in
Barry County. Currently,
704 units throughout the
county are either planned or
in development. This,
Jackson said, will help put a
dent in Barry County’s need
for housing.
The county received
roughly $1.4 million in
grants in the past year. These
grants will be used for things
like rural business develop-
ment and environmental
assessments.
Jackson credited the many
volunteers throughout Barry
County who are involved
with local government.“I really appreciate the
fact that we have people in
our community, a lot of them
like you, who are willing to
stand up and help out and
lead in different places. And
we continue to need those
voices to help us,” he said.
Looking forward into
2024, large-scale solar and
wind energy projects will be
a hot-button issue for the
county.
State legislators passed a
series of bills in November
2023 that take away regulat-
ing control over large-scale
renewable energy projects
from local municipalities.
The regulating control now
lies in the hands of the state.
Already, parts of Barry
County are being targeted for
large-scale solar projects. In
the southern end of the coun-
ty, Consumers Energy is
planning a roughly 1,000-
acre large-scale solar energy
system in Johnstown
Township.
“We’re looking hard atwhat we can do to control
that, especially where it con-
cerns prime farmland, hous-
ing, real estate, things thatare important to us because
our rural culture is important.
We want to keep that the best
we can,” said Jackson.Barry County Board of Commissioners Chair David
Jackson gives his “State of the County” address at
Monday’s Hastings Rotary Club meeting. (Photo by
Molly Macleod)