In January, the state started handing out money to local governments as incentives to consolidate public services with neighbors. Fire protection sharing figured prominently in the first round of 27 grants totaling $4.3 million. But it’s the lack of money, rather than the prospect of more, that should force more communities to look at service […]
Michigan Government
Citizens cannot do their job of running their government if they don’t know what their public servants are doing.
Posted inMichigan Government
Drug courts a win-win for users, taxpayers
Judge William Schma retired from the Kalamazoo County Circuit Court bench in 2006. Six years later, he still runs into people whose lives turned around thanks to his drug court. Repeatedly. “I just got a call from someone graduating from the humanities program at Western Michigan University who wants me to come to graduation,” said […]
Posted inMichigan Government
GOP leaders eye state contribution in tweak to MPSERS reform bill
Confronted with concerns that a bill to revamp the teacher retirement system would lead to a mass exodus of veteran teachers this year, Republicans who control the Legislature are tinkering with Senate Bill 1040 to reform the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. Faced with $45 billion in unfunded liability and with contributions from school […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Cost of '4 strikes' plan drops, still means millions more for prisons
When Attorney General Bill Schuette first proposed his “4 strikes and you’re out” plan for repeat felons, the Michigan Department of Corrections said the additional costs to the prison system could exceed $1 billion per year by the middle of the 21st century. New calculations by the department, incorporated into a Senate Fiscal Agency analysis, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Teacher retirement fund has $45 billion hole
When something once vital and secure dies, it must be mourned. And so David Campbell, superintendent of the Livingston Educational Service Agency in Howell, likes using the language of a funeral director when discussing Michigan’s retirement program for school employees. “We’re in the middle of a grieving process,” he said recently, going through stacks of […]
Posted inMichigan Government
GOP fix for MPSERS calls for bigger checks from teachers, retirees
The way state Rep. Rick Olson sees it, there are only three places to find a solution to financial problems in the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. “Increased contribution by employees, reductions in benefits — or find a magical money tree somewhere,” the Saline Republican said. With no magic to call on, a group […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Educators see violation of trust in pension proposal
When Kathy Kapera started working as a Michigan teacher in 1976, she made about $7,000 a year. Over the course of her career — most of it spent teaching hearing-impaired children in Royal Oak — she earned a master’s degree, and steadily accumulated seniority and experience that all led to the moment in 2010 when […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Teacher pension gaps pop up around Great Lakes
As dire as conditions are for the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System, be advised it could be worse. Just look at Illinois. Across the country, pension funds are suffering from the same confluence of factors, including rising health-care costs, falling returns on investment, lax oversight and more. It is very difficult to directly compare […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Snyder pushes end to personal tax on business
Steve Carlson considered buying a couple of new machines for his plastic molding business near Lansing, but he and the company’s other owners decided to hold off for now. One reason, he said, is Michigan’s personal property tax on the new equipment would drive up the cost of doing business, adding another 30 percent to […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Business, Republican leaders express confidence in personal property tax repeal
In the looming battle over Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed personal property tax repeal, both sides agree on one thing: It’s a tax neither particularly likes. “This is an investment penalty,” said Lt. Governor Brian Calley before a Senate committee Wednesday. “The more you invest, the more you pay.” The Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the […]