Low-income homeowners in five Michigan cities have between Dec. 1 and Dec. 14 to ask for a cut in their 2026 property tax bills. Ann Arbor can reduce a qualifying home’s taxable value by 100 percent, which erases the bill, while Battle Creek, Ferndale and Oak Park each offer a 50 percent reduction. Portage’s application says only that the exemption can be whole or partial.
Each city sets its own deadline, its own income ceiling and its own asset limit. The dates run in this order: Portage on Dec. 1, Battle Creek on Dec. 5, Oak Park on Dec. 7, Ferndale on Dec. 11 and Ann Arbor on Dec. 14…