The Robert Scott women’s prison in Northville Township, Mich., will close Sunday as part of the state’s cost-savings measures, meaning dozens of jobs will leave the locale. But the closure also could mean a boost in property taxes for the township after the land is sold and owned privately, reports the Detroit Free Press. Township officials say they would like to be included in meetings about the future of the prison, which will be turned over to the real estate division of the state Office of Management and Budget.
For now, the township collects only $10,000 annually from the state in lieu of taxes to provide fire protection for the prison and the 1-square-mile Maybury Park, the other state-owned property in the township, Northville Township Manager Chip Snider said. The 35-acre prison property is well-placed near freeways. The township’s appraiser said that if the area was zoned commercial, real estate could go for about $150,000 an acre, and if it is zoned residential, it would be priced at $50,000 an acre. The prison staff is being reassigned to other prisons, and the 880 inmates are being moved to the former Huron Valley prison in Ypsilanti.