Finance committee approves package to relevy unpaid municipal charges onto 2025 property tax bills

The Troy City Council finance committee voted unanimously to transfer multiple categories of unpaid municipal charges onto the 2025 property tax bills, adopting ordinances 73 through 80 by recorded 7–0 votes.

Committee members said the package groups a range of delinquent charges — including unpaid water bills, vacant-building fees, solid-waste management fees, bulk-pickup fines, demolition charges, water/sewer shop-work charges and legal fees — so the amounts can be collected through property-tax relevies. Council members discussed year-to-year comparisons and urged staff to analyze why some categories (notably garbage/solid-waste relevies and bulk-pickup fines) rose this year.

The committee recorded roughly $2.1 million in unpaid water charges for 2024 as the largest single category noted during discussion; vacant-building relevies were described in discussion as roughly $500,000. Council members and staff emphasized that some increases reflect fines and cleanup work (for example, large multi-unit cleanups) rather than only raw user-fee nonpayment and that staff will follow up with a more detailed analysis.

Votes at a glance

- Ordinance 73 — transfer within 2024 general fund: adopted, vote recorded 7–0. - Ordinance 74 — relevy of unpaid water charges onto 2025 property tax bills: adopted, vote recorded 7–0. - Ordinance 75 — relevy of unpaid vacant-building fees onto 2025 property tax bills: adopted, vote recorded 7–0. - Ordinance 76 — relevy of unpaid Solid Waste Management fees onto 2025 property tax bills: adopted, vote recorded 7–0. - Ordinance 77 — relevy of unpaid bulk-pickup fees and garbage fines onto 2025 property tax bills: adopted, vote recorded 7–0. - Ordinance 78 — relevy of unpaid demolition charges onto 2025 property tax bills: adopted, vote recorded 7–0. - Ordinance 79 — relevy of unpaid charges for water- and sewer-shop work services onto 2025 property tax bills: adopted, vote recorded 7–0. - Ordinance 80 — relevy of unpaid legal fees onto 2025 property tax bills: adopted, vote recorded 7–0.

Why it matters

Relevying delinquent municipal charges onto property tax bills is a common municipal collection tool that allows the city to recover costs when individuals or businesses fail to pay fees, fines or service charges. Council members signaled that some categories require further review to distinguish unpaid user fees from administrative fines or cleanup charges and to confirm whether changes in customer enrollment (for example, more households signing up for curbside service) affected totals.

What’s next

Council asked staff for a follow-up analysis of the larger increases in the solid-waste and bulk-pickup categories and confirmed that the relevy process may lead to foreclosure proceedings if property taxes remain unpaid after statutory timeframes. The ordinances take effect as recorded in the council action notes.