CASSOPOLIS — The Cass County Board of Commissioners is voting to take a stand against a senate bill they say will hurt the county.

During a Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday, the board discussed the Sen. John Proos sponsored Senate Bill 1031. Commissioners said the bill, which will amend the General Property Tax Act, will decrease revenue for the county and the cities and townships that reside within Cass County. The board will vote to pass a resolution opposing the bill Thursday and will forward the bill to Michigan House Reps Dave Pagel, and Aaron Miller and Sen. John Proos and Gov. Rick Snyder.

SB 1031 will amend existing tax law to exempt “qualified utility personal property” from collection of taxes under the General Property Tax Act. Under the bill, “qualified utility personal property” would include electric transmission and distribution systems, substation equipment, spare parts, gas distribution systems, water transmission and distribution systems, gas storage equipment, and transmission lines of gas or oil transporting companies.

Cass County Equalization Director Tami Stewart presented to the board about the resolution, which she helped draft. She said that SB 1031, in its current state, would place a financial burden on Cass County and its local units. Additionally, she said that the bill would not only reduce personal property tax revenues in 2019, but every year after, and the losses would continue to increase.

“This won’t all become exempt overnight, but over the course of 10 or 15 years, it will become exempt,” Stewart said. “And there is nothing in this process to replace those funds. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

To illustrate her point, Steward brought a numbers breakdown to the board to show that if all the qualified utility personal property in Cass County becomes exempt, the county will lose more than $1.2 million in tax revenue.

“[With this bill,] everyone loses,” Stewart said. “The townships lose. Everyone loses. … We don’t want this to go through.”

Many commissioners said Tuesday that they supported the resolution opposing the bill and would vote in favor of the resolution during Thursday’s regular board of commissioners meeting.

Commissioner Robert Ziliak even proposed sending the resolution to every representative in the Michigan legislature.

Commissioner Roseann Marchetti agreed that the board needed to pass the opposing resolution.

“If we don’t say anything, they will think we are OK with it,” she said.