Treasurer's Office

The office of Treasurer acts as the custodian of county and township funds. Treasurers oversee the sources of revenue for the county, primarily property taxes, as well as the collection of delinquent taxes.

Records created by the office of treasurer are governed and managed by the following retention schedules:

• GS-27 for County Treasurers
• GS-28 for City and Village Treasurers
• GS-29 for Township Treasurers

The retention and disposition schedules indicate the proper retention period for treasurer records 

Tax Assessment Rolls

The most common record that county, township and city treasurers will seek to transfer to the Archives of Michigan are tax assessment rolls. They document all taxable property within a jurisdiction. Relevant information that can define these records are, parcel numbers, addresses, county tax breakdowns, property descriptions, and amount of taxes owed. Due to the size and volume of tax rolls the transfer process is slightly different from standard paper records.

Transferring Tax Rolls

After identifying the correct retention period, transfers start by filling out an archives transfer form. List each volume (sometimes called a liber) individually on each line of the transfer form. Do not fill in the volume number column as this will be used as a control number by the archives when the records have been transferred. List each volume from oldest to newest, then alphabetically within each year. See the reverse side for an example sheet. When you have competed the inventory, submit the form to govarchives@michigan.gov for approval from the Archives Acquisitions team.

Once approved, archives staff will begin to coordinate a pick-up of the tax rolls. Let us know if you have any time constraints on your project and we will do our best to accommodate. We will also want to know if you have staff that can prepare the records for transfer, if the building where the records are stored has a loading dock with space for pallets. These factors will let staff know how to plan for each pickup of records.

Finally, if your tax rolls have been digitized or data uploaded to a municipal software system like BS&A, let us know. In accordance with Michigan Code of Law (MCL) 24.406 digital reproductions of government records carry the same force and effect as the original, and as such, Archives staff may be interested in these digital records instead of the paper originals.