Heos v. City of East Lansing

Held that new franchise fee charged to in-city consumers by utility provider and remitted to the city was an unlawful tax that violated the Headlee Amendment of the Michigan Constitution, which requires voter approval for new taxes. Also held that the plaintiffs were “taxpayers” and not mere members of the public for the purposes for the purposes of determining the appropriate statute of limitations under the Amendment, and therefore was not time-barred from bringing suit.