MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - It starts with an appeal. An appeal to the Michigan Tax Tribunal from big box retailers asking for a lower assessment of their property value, therefore, granting lower property taxes.

“It’s a year or two until those appeals are resolved, so taxes that have been overpaid in that year or two period are refunded," said Meridian Township Assessor David Lee.

According to Township Treasurer Julie Brixie, from 2011 to 2015, the tax revenue lost from Target, Home Depot, Meijer, and Kohls, amounts to over $1.5 million.

"The repercussions of that, is that the taxes that they had paid in the meantime had gone to all the different bodies that collect taxes... in this case the Downtown Development Authority (DDA)," said Meridian Township Associate Planner Peter Menser.

Menser works closely with the Okemos DDA, which after the Meijer appeal was resolved in 2012, found themselves on the hook for over $80,000 in refunded taxes.

“What that does for a small organization with a small budget of $15,000 to $20,000 a year, previously, that was a big hit," said Menser.

The appeal has limited what the DDA has been able to do, but it hasn’t tarnished the townships relationship with Meijer.

House Bill 5578, which would essentially stop this practice from being used, has passed the House and is on it’s way to the Senate.