Jordan Beck | Daily Press Escanaba City Manager Patrick Jordan addresses the Delta County Board of Commissioners Tuesday. The board approved a $10,000 payment to the City of Escanaba during its meeting that day, which will support the city in its continued tax dispute with Menards.

ESCANABA — The Delta County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a $10,000 payment to the City of Escanaba Tuesday. The payment will support the city in its continued tax dispute with Menards.

In May 2020, the Michigan Tax Tribunal issued a ruling on the long-running dispute. The City of Escanaba found the ruling — which required it to reduce the taxable value of the Menards store in Escanaba and reimburse the store for previous years’ taxes — unsatisfactory. Because of this, Escanaba City Manager Patrick Jordan asked the Delta County Board of Commissioners for additional funding in a letter sent last month.

The board discussed the possibility of providing the funding to the city during a meeting held in early July. As a city representative was not in attendance at that meeting — and the county needed to determine where additional funding in support of the city would come from — the matter was tabled at that time.

Jordan was present at a board meeting that took place Tuesday. There, he provided additional context on the tax tribunal’s ruling.

According to Jordan, one of the three judges that heard the case had their term expire before a decision on the dispute was made, leaving two judges to write the decision.

“The way the story was told, they were on opposite ends of the philosophy of the dark store argument. And so after a year, I almost felt like they just said ‘let’s just get this done,’ and they wrote an opinion,” Jordan said.

Jordan said city officials decided to appeal the decision. He noted this process should cost significantly less than the original trial.

“There’s no new evidence submitted, so the costs are limited — but, still, we’ve spent so much money on this as it is now,” he said.

Later in the meeting, County Administrator Emily DeSalvo spoke about where additional support to the City of Escanaba could come from. She said previous payments to the city were taken out of a budget line item for professional services.

“We looked at where it came from the last few times that we’ve given that, and we could pull some money from that and we’d probably have to supplement from the general fund and the administration line item, as well,” she said.

A motion was made to put $15,000 towards the city’s legal fight. Due to concerns about the amount of money available for this purpose, the motion was ultimately withdrawn and replaced with a motion to provide $10,000 to the city. That motion was approved by board members.

In other business, the board:

– voted not to rezone a parcel in Perkins from Residential to Commercial 1. This was in keeping with a recommendation made by the Delta County Planning Commission earlier in the month.

Dollar General was looking to build a store on the property — a proposal which was controversial among local residents. Significant opposition to the store was voiced by people living in the area at both the planning commission meeting and Tuesday’s board meeting.

“There’s no compelling reason to change this property. We already have a store, and I believe we can only support the one store,” Baldwin Township Supervisor Gregory Stevenson told board members Tuesday.

– referred a discussion on possible changes to the county’s plumbing and mechanical inspector position to the personnel committee.

– gave Board Chair Patrick Johnson authority to vote on the board’s behalf in a meeting of the National Association of Counties.

– voted in favor of accepting a CARES Act first responder hazard pay premium grant.

– upheld the county’s original decision on a Freedom of Information Act appeal.

– heard about changes to the county’s sublease to Tri-County Safe Harbor and the Delta Regional Child Advocacy Center. Dates on the sublease were changed as a result of COVID-19.