MARQUETTE COUNTY, Mich. (WZMQ) – After years of debate and litigation between Marquette County and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CCI) over taxes, the County and company have reached a settlement.
According to a press release posted by the City of Negaunee on Friday, CCI reached a settlement with Marquette County, Richmond Township, Tilden Township, and the City of Negaunee. The press release says the settlement ends seven years of litigation and will provide “tax certainty for the four taxing units through 2032.”
The County says the action met three objectives: to arrive at a tax payment settlement, avert job layoffs and potential mine closure, and end the “costly ongoing litigation.” The settlement has reportedly been ratified by all four municipal taxing units.
The county said CCI CEO Lourenco Goncalves was part of the negotiations, which led to a quick resolution.
This stems from an ongoing dispute between the municipalities and and CCI over years of unpaid taxes beginning seven years ago with the idling of the Empire Mine.
Officials previously explained that when the Empire Mine was operating, CCI paid taxes on the ore that was mined but not property taxes. When the Empire Mine closed in 2016, CCI still wasn’t paying property tax, and the municipalities lost millions of dollars of revenue from the ore tax that was no longer being collected.
In a press release from Tuesday, Feb. 20, Marquette County said the company owed more than $50 million in delinquent real and personal property taxes, including $2.9 million in personal property taxes owed to Richmond and Tilden Townships and an undisclosed amount in real property taxes to the City of Negaunee. The County said CCI repeatedly contested orders from the Michigan State Tax Commission (STC) and refused to pay the taxes the County said it owed.
Marquette County Administrator Scott Erbisch said the County has spent nearly $1 million in taxpayer dollars in litigation with CCI.
Township officials have told 19 News that the tax delinquency has had a great impact on their communities. Richmond Township has lost its library, police department, and has outdated EMS equipment it is unable to upgrade.
“If Cliffs is successful in avoiding its tax burden for the Empire Mine, the Tilden Mine may be next,” said Deborah Pellow, a former member of the Michigan’s Mining Future Committee and the current Tilden Township Clerk said in a press release. “Our townships are already strained because of this tax issue. We have been picking up their slack for seven years.”
This is a developing story. WZMQ will provide updates as we learn more.
