Voigt v. Detroit City

Background

The dispute involved a Michigan law that lets cities and villages take private property for public improvements and then assess nearby property to pay part of the cost. The statute (section 3406) required a jury award, a council determination that a local district is benefited, and an assessment roll that becomes a lien until paid. In this case the council fixed a district, set $49,155.12 as the district’s share, and assessed almost $10,000 against the plaintiff’s property. The property owner challenged the law on notice and the size of district assessments.

Reasoning

The key questions were whether property owners got adequate notice and hearing about who would be included in an assessment district and how much each property would pay, and whether the statute allowed assessments that exceeded the property’s actual benefit. The Michigan Supreme Court found that while the statute did not require notice at every step, it did provide a hearing when the specific proportion to be charged to each parcel was fixed, and the owner in this case had that opportunity. The state court also interpreted the statute to mean assessments cannot exceed the benefit to the property. The United States Court agreed with that interpretation and upheld the law, concluding the procedure gave property owners a sufficient chance to challenge the charge against their land.

Real world impact

The decision leaves in place Michigan’s process for creating benefit districts and assessing owners for improvements, while confirming that owners must be able to contest the amount charged to their parcel and that assessments are limited by the property’s special benefit.