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Watson paid pittance for taxes on 'nonexistent' Detroit house
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Contributor | RBH |
Last Edited | RBH May 24, 2009 11:37am |
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Category | News |
News Date | Sunday, May 24, 2009 05:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
Description | Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson paid only $68 in property taxes this year because city records say her well-kept, brick Tudor-style home doesn't exist. Although the home has occupied its west-side plot since 1926, city records have classified the parcel as an empty lot for the past decade.
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Watson said she was unaware of the discrepancy until the Free Press contacted her. She said the change came before she was elected to City Council -- and without her involvement.
"I pay the taxes. All I know is I had a big drop when my house got hit hard by a tornado," she said. "We had great damage."
Watson said she could not recall the specific date the tornado hit, saying it might have been 2002, or perhaps 1993.
She acknowledged, however, that she never reported the incident. National Weather Service meteorologists said the last tornadoes to hit Detroit occurred in 1996 and 1997 -- before Watson says her taxes were reduced because of what she called "the natural disaster." |
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