City of Lansing asked to annex eastside portion of Lansing Township

FRIDAY, July 22 – A group of 119 residents of the Groesbeck neighborhood in Lansing Township are asking for the area to be annexed by the city of Lansing.

“Our friends and neighbors in this small portion of Lansing Township have asked for an election and I support their right to have a say in their local government,” Lansing Mayor Andy Schor wrote in a letter to the Lansing City Council yesterday.

The area — one of five noncontiguous land areas  that make up Lansing Township —  is completely surrounded by the City of Lansing, the letter noted. City Attorney Jim Smiertka has advised Schor, and will advise the Council, the only action necessary by the City Council is to decide whether to certify a ballot question by Aug. 16 in order to to make the November ballot. Schor has asked Council to pass the ballot resolution by Aug. 8.

Michigan law says that  a portion of a charter township that is contiguous on all sides with a city or village may be annexed by that city or village "with the approval of a majority of the electors in that portion of a charter township." 

The latest Census said the  township's population is 8,087. Groesbeck is adjacent to Lansing's Eastside Neighborhood in the 48912 ZIP code. Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said  today "good ballpark estimates" of the population of Groesbeck is 2,243 and  total  registered voters 1,827.

A leader of the effort, John DeMarco, confirmed in a phone call that he and other residents are seeking to join the city. DeMarco said he has lived in Groesbeck for 20 years. He declined to discuss why the residents were seeking annexation untill all the paperwork for the city was completed.

Officials in the Mayor’s Office said they were waiting for the final letter from residents to include in the weekly Lansing City Council packets, which becomes available on Fridays. The resolution to place the question on the ballot is still being reviewed by lawyers in the Office of the City Attorney but will be included in the Council packet.

If voters approve the annexation in November, Lansing Township would lose approximately 20% of its taxable property base, Scott Bean, communications director for Schor, said the city assessor has estimated.

Lansing Township Supervisor Maggie Sanders said she was “blindsided” by the annexation move. She said neither the mayor nor residents spoke with her about the move. She said that until she has an opportunity to review the petition and other documents she had no comment.

Lansing Township has been struggling financially for over a decade. It’s been burdened by long-term debt tied to land deals at the Heights at Eastwood, a mixed-use development in the northern area of the Eastwood Town Center on Lake Lansing Road

The township’s 2022 budget shows the agency expected just $4,471,126.44 in revenues but expected to spend $5,252,675.22. To address the budget gap, the township adopted a special assessment to fund police and fire employees’ salaries. It’s a three-year assessment, raising in 2022 an expected $1.52 million. The total assessment over the three-year life span was expected to raise $4.57 million.

On top of these financial woes, the township is struggling with a court ruling that found big box stores such as Walmart and Sam’s Club are supposed to be taxed differently than they have been, leaving the township on the hook to refund at least $3.1 million in overpaid taxes.

Ingham County Treasurer Alan Fox said that the current millages related to the long-term debts from Lansing Township would follow the properties to the City of Lansing. Lansing would have to collect those taxes, as well as city taxes on those properties.

 “They’re essentially giving themselves a tax increase,” Fox said.

 Schor noted in his letter that there “are many questions that need to be resolved should this area be annexed and these residents be added to the City of Lansing.” He did not expand on those questions needing resolution in his letter to Council.

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