MTT_26-002294_Amended_Petition_SIGNED (1).pdf
Mathias El Tribe Trust Petitioner V City Of Southfield Respondent · 26-002294-TT
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STATE OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF LICENSING AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS MICHIGAN TAX TRIBUNAL - SMALL CLAIMS DIVISION PROPERTY TAX APPEAL PETITION FORM - OTHER EXEMPTION AMENDED PETITION - MTT Docket No. 26-002294 Amended to identify the Petitioner and the Authorized Representative in the capacities stated in the record. Section 1: Petitioner's Contact Information First Name M.I. Last Name/Company Name Mathias El Tribe Trust Mailing Address 4305 Sun Devils Avenue City or Town State ZIP Code Bakersfield California 93313 Telephone Number (628) 288-7423 Email Address m.mccaster@mathiaseltribe.org Section 2: Petitioner's Attorney/Authorized Representative's Contact Information First Name M.I. Last Name Mathias El Office / Capacity Office of the Chief Justice and Trustee - Authorized Representative Mailing Address 4305 Sun Devils A venue City or Town State ZIP Code Bakersfield California 93313 Telephone Number (628) 288-7423 Email Address mmccaster@mathiaseltribe.org Page 1 mmccaster@mathiaseltribe.org
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Section 3: Subject Property Information How many parcels are you If more than one, contiguous/adjoining? appealing? NI A - one parcel 1 Property Address 28740 Bell Road City or Town County State Southfield Oakland Michigan Taxing Authority (City or Township) City of Southfield STATE OF MICHIGAN - MICHIGAN TAX TRIBUNAL AMENDED PETITION - MTT Docket No. 26-002294 Section 4: Explain the Reason for this Appeal ZIP Code 48034 See Attachment A - Amended Appeal Statement: Party, Capacity, and Tribal Interest. This amended petition preserves the claims, valuation contentions, jurisdictional objections, and relief previously placed in the record. The amendment identifies Mathias El Tribe Trust as Petitioner and supplies the Section 2 information for Chief Mathias El, the Authorized Representative who signed and acts on behalf of Petitioner. Section 5: Jurisdictional Issues Exemption / issue and statutory authority Challenge to classification, uncapping, valuation, exemption, and asserted taxing authority; 25 U.S.C. § 177 and federal preemption are preserved as source-specific federal issues; disputed applicability and consequence of MCL 211.34c; see Attachment A. Action prompting appeal 2026 assessment notice and City of Southfield Board of Review decision classifying the property as residential, assigning a figure the City/Board characterizes as taxable value, and denying the asserted exemption / jurisdictional position. Entity denying exemption BORmonth City of Southfield Board of Review March Date denial issued Year(s) denied / under appeal April 2, 2026 2026 Page 2
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Section 6: Valuation Information Parcel Identification Number 76-24-16-201-019 Classification of Property Real - Residential (assessor's current classification; disputed and not conceded) Current Taxable Value as established by the Petitioner's contention of Taxable Value Board of Review $0 (form-compatible numerical entry only; $168,900 (City/Board designation disputed and Petitioner maintains that no taxable value is not conceded) lawfully assessable) Fee Information Principal Residence Exemption of at least 50% for all years at issue? No A separate filing contests the filing-fee and default determinations and addresses waiver or other relief. Nothing in this amended petition concedes that the fee or default may lawfully be imposed against Petitioner under the governing law, and no jurisdictional, federal, tribal, or other preserved objection is waived by complying with the Tribunal's directive to amend the petition. Signature - Authorized Representative Signature/ Stamp: --mti"cc<Jftho£hid/1,otico.md'!'rn,tc:, . CHIEF MATIDAS EL Authorized Representative, acting on behalf of Mathias El Tribe Trust Chief and Trustee I Office of the Chief Justice and Trustee Page 3
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ATTACHMENT A AMENDED APPEAL STATEMENT - PARTY, CAPACITY, AND TRIBAL INTEREST MTI Docket No. 26-002294 1. Petitioner and Representative Capacity The named Petitioner is Mathias El Tribe Trust. The Trust holds and administers property and interests for stated tribal, charitable, governmental, and beneficiary purposes. Chief Mathias El appears solely as the Trust's Authorized Representative in this proceeding, acting on behalf of Petitioner. His name, signature, or stamp identifies the representative through whom Petitioner acts; it does not substitute an individual petitioner for the Trust. The existence and administration of tribal and beneficiary interests are facts relevant to the character of the Trust, the conveyance, and the subject property; they do not add separate parties to this appeal. The Tribunal's administrative name fields are used for case administration only and do not determine Petitioner's legal character or convert the interests administered by the Trust into an individual or corporate claim. 2. Nature of the Appeal and Record This appeal concerns the 2026 classification, uncapping, valuation, exemption, and asserted taxing authority affecting 28740 Bell Road, Southfield, Michigan, Parcel No. 76-24-16-201-019. The assessment roll identifies Mathias El Tribe Trust as owner and classifies the property as residential. Petitioner disputes the legal consequences assigned to that classification. 3. Recorded Conveyance and Tribal Interest The recorded conveyance and related record describe a non-commercial conveyance without monetary consideration to Mathias El Tribe Trust for stated tribal, beneficiary, governmental, cultural, charitable, and community purposes. Petitioner contends that the transaction and beneficial interests actually evidenced by that record must be identified before uncapping, valuation, exemption, or tax consequences are assigned, and disputes that the conveyance produced the change in beneficial ownership asserted by the assessment. 4. Governing-Source and Status/Consequence Rule Petitioner preserves its objections concerning classification authority, taxing authority, federal preemption, the asserted application of 25 U.S.C. § 177, and the legal character of the property and trust relationship. Petitioner asks the Tribunal to determine each asserted legal consequence from the governing source applicable to that consequence and the transaction and interests actually shown by the record. Administrative classification does not itself establish a different legal status, and a status requirement should not be added where the governing source does not supply it. Page4
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5. Jurisdictional Allocation and Controlling Law Michigan law may assign this Tribunal the forum for review of the challenged assessment, but that procedural allocation does not itself establish the substantive authority to impose the assessment, fee, default, or other consequence, or determine every antecedent legal status upon which such authority depends. The Tribunal must apply the governing source of law applicable to each issue presented. Where a controlling federal statute, treaty, restriction, or rule of federal Indian law governs a particular consequence and actually conflicts with state law, the federal source controls to the extent of that conflict. Petitioner does not contend that every ordinary state procedural rule is displaced merely because tribal interests are implicated; federal law is invoked where its predicates are established and it governs the particular authority, classification, taxation, alienation, encumbrance, access-to-forum condition, fee, default, or other consequence at issue. Participation in this proceeding to obtain review of the assessment does not concede the substantive taxing authority challenged in the petition, alter the legal character of the Trust or the interests it administers, authorize reclassification of those interests, or waive preserved federal or tribal objections. 6. Relief Requested Petitioner asks the Tribunal to determine the classification, uncapping, valuation, exemption, and asserted taxing-authority issues under the governing law and the transaction actually shown by the record; vacate or correct the challenged assessment and any related valuation entry as governing law requires; and grant further relief within the Tribunal's lawful authority. Petitioner maintains that no taxable value is lawfully assessable. Any $0 entry supplied in a form field is a form-compatible expression of that position and is not a concession that the taxable-value category lawfully applies. This Attachment A is incorporated into the Amended Petition. It clarifies party and capacity, preserves the tribal interests administered by Petitioner, and states the jurisdictional allocation governing this proceeding while preserving the claims and objections already placed in the record. Page 5