Bailing out UAW Tax Crooks?
#TCOT #diggcons
Oh the story of Little Piggie Gettelfinger just keeps getting better all the time.
By now, you’ve likely read all about the the UAW’s $33 million Black Lake Golf Club. Well, maybe not all.
It seems the UAW isn’t as concerned about all the citizens of Michigan as it is its dues paying members. Cheboygan County Drain Commissioner-elect Dennis Lennox has issued a press release detailing the UAW’s repeated efforts to avoid paying property taxes on the luxury resort for union bosses. You can view the press release in its entirety on Michelle Malkin’s blog here.
Apparently, the UAW carries the resort and golf course on it’s books at $33 million when reporting to the federal government but has spent the last 4 years fighting the county’s efforts to collect property tax on that amount. According to Lennox’s statement, the courts have actually reduced the valuation several times allowing the UAW to receive more favorable tax treatment than other property owners in the county.
Now, this is bad enough considering the UAW fought tooth and nail for the Socialist bailout of GM and Chrysler these past two months, a bailout that picks the pockets of the rest of us taxpayers who pay our fair share. It gets even worse when you take into account this organization and it’s boss, Little Piggy Gettelfinger campaigned for and donated to the presidential campaign that told us it’s “patriotic” to pay more taxes. But it gets even worse when you consider exactly what Michigan property taxes support.
Property taxes support schools and local governments in Michigan. So the UAW, spends union dues (that will soon be coming from our pockets) to support a $33 million luxury resort that has lost $27 million over the past 5 years (WOW!!!) and then has the gall to cheat Michigan schoolchildren out of decent textbooks and educational facilities! And don’t forget, those local governments are charged with furnishing little amenities like water and sanitation services to those children and their families as well. Less tax money translates to higher rates for these vital services.
So, let’s tie all of this together.
The UAW seizes money from autoworkers in the form of dues, then wastes that money on a money losing luxury golf resort so union bosses can “relax” from the pressures of their extortion racket, then proceeds to demand that the US government use taxpayer’s money to supply more cash for them to waste, and all the while takes every opportunity to ripoff the good citizens of Michigan and deny them and their children quality education, clean water, and sanitation services.
And the UAW acts shocked that we didn’t support their bailout.
Unbelievable!
Related Posts
The bottomless UAW money pit–Michelle Malkin
The Fun Part About Financial Disaster…–Michigan Taxes Too Much
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America, You Asked For It! 
Cheboygan County’s newly elected drain commissioner, Dennis Lennox, has just issued his latest press release entitled “UAW refuses to pay taxes on lavish lakeside resort“. Lennox campaigned for the drain commissioner job with lawn signs falsely implying that he was the incumbent- a violation of state law. His platform was based on a stated desire for low taxes and getting the state legislature to abolish what he calls the “do nothing” drain commissioner job which pays $600 a year.
Property assessment are made by each township on an annual basis and are subject to taxpayer challenge at a local board of review and then before a state tax tribunal. For almost 40 years, the UAW has run an education center for UAW members on the south side of Black Lake in Waverly Township. The Center has a first-rate public golf course with a great restaurant and accommodations for up to 250 UAW members and their famalies to attend weeklong training programs. The UAW Center employs almost 150 locals, paying good wages and benefits and it operations have been almost self-sustaining. (The Center has its own fire department, security, road maintenance, waste treatment etc and no school-age children live at the Center). The Center has reportedly operated at a loss of about $23 million dollars over the past five years.
For some years, the UAW has been able to successfully challenge the Waverly Township assessment at the state tax tribunal level. In 2007, the UAW again challenged its assessment and the parties settled that matter that same year. Lennox says he is astonished that the UAW claims the current market value of its property is more than 50% less than its book value. Apparently he has not noticed that property values have been declining. The Lennox release also falsely suggests that I represented the UAW in this matter and refused to make any effort to resolve it. However, I have not represented the UAW in any of these assessment disputes. (I retired from the UAW in 1999 and after two years at the National Labor Relations Board in Washington D.C., I settled here on family property in Grant Township.) When the 2007 assessment challenge was brought to my attention, I arranged for a lunch meeting at the Center with the township board, the UAW Center Director, its tax attorney and a high level administrator from UAW Solidarity House in Detroit. The Waverly Township Board declined this offer. (Neither county commissioners nor for that matter, drain commissioners, are involved in property tax assessment matters.)
Since this matter had been resolved by the Waverly Township Board and the UAW, why does the new drain commissioner regurgitate it now almost two years later? Every taxpayer has a right to appeal a tax assessment, particularly where there has been a past pattern of excessive assessments. The only issue in any assessment dispute is the appraised value of the property in contrast to other comparable properties. There is no discussion of this issue or of past tax tribunal decisions in the Lennox release. You would think a self-proclaimed advocate for low taxes would support any taxpayer’s right to appeal an improper assessment.
The UAW Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center has been good for the community, and its continued ownership should be encouraged. Rumors have circulated for years that the Center, or at least the golf course are for sale. I hope the UAW realizes that most do not share Mr. Lennox’s views. The UAW has maintained a beautiful, low impact resort operation which strives to preserve the property’s natural environment. The Center employees are locals earning a decent living and enjoying the benefits of union representation. Even though the Center is a seasonal employer, the UAW does NOT exercise its right to challenge unemployment benefits when it shuts down over the winter. The UAW Center attracts thousands of well-behaved visitors annually who spend their money in the local area. (Some even come back to vacation and retire here!) The facility has also been made available for many public meetings and the UAW has been a generous supporter of community events and programs. In contrast with some resorts, the UAW does not use foreign workers on temporary work visas. Nor has the UAW asked either the township or county for any taxpayer-funded subsidy despite the fact that the Center operations have apparently been a steady drain on the UAW’s declining resources.
Perhaps the new township board may wish to pursue a better relationship with the current property owner and one of the county’s largest and best paying employers. If so, I will try to set up another meeting. Regardless, Lennox’s attack on the UAW is stale, devoid of relevant facts, hypocritical, unprincipled, obviously beyond his expertise, and unrelated to his extensive duties as drain commissioner..
Leonard Page
Leonard PAge is ab embarrassment to Cheboygan County. I would love to see his campaign finance reports to see how much money the Marxist union gave him to get him elected to represent their $33 million lakeside resort. I’m glad that someone finally blew the whistle on the union’s bullying of local government. This is the biggest joke. Page has no creditability and has major conflicts of interest. I hope someone calls these UAW elitists under oath to explain these shenanigans. There are some serious questions that need to be answered and explained.
… that blasts the troops serving their country in the line of duty by calling their service “immoral” in his rants and raves on the op-ed pages of local newspapers? This is also the guy, who on a record roll call vote, voted against recycling.
You are definitely correct in your on going persecution of this issue of waste of tax payer and uaw union dues payer’s money.But why are you not revealing the facts about the same people that are being subsidized(foreign owned car factories)by the government and us to help pay for thier health care and retirement benefits and operating costs, and all the millions that are going their way.Pull some facts and compare how they are constantly getting bail out money but by a different name.Also if given access Iam sure that you can find fault with any occupation on the worth in dollars.
In ending the UAW has implemented many good things that have helped stucture the health care sytem IE.(INSURANCE RX CARDS)AND a better quality of life.
[…] UAW can’t even run a golf course, but Obama handed it the keys to the boardroom of Chrysler–to the detriment of Wall Street […]
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