Like many other Michigan public schools, the River Rouge School District is struggling to stay afloat. In recent years, it has laid off teachers and eliminated music, art, gym, libraries and athletics — but it’s still running a deficit. In February, voters turned down a request for a millage increase. So, if the Legislature and […]
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
See where personal property tax hits
Bills that would lead to the elimination of the personal property tax for almost all Michigan businesses are now before the Michigan Legislature. Business groups have expressed strong support for PPT repeal, arguing the levy on business equipment makes Michigan less competitive. A coalition of local government and school groups says the plan by the Snyder administration could strip hundreds of millions of dollars from local governments. The administration says most of those dollars will be replaced by state funds appropriated by the Legislature each year.
Posted inMichigan Government
Ethics expert: Michigan gets lapped by New Jersey
Michigan’s public sector is not congenial to ethics, according to a recent grading by the Center for Public Integrity. Michigan earned an “F” and a numerical ranking of 43rd (with No. 1 being least corrupt) in the nationwide CPI study. “The analysis of 330 indicators of state accountability measures shows that this state of almost […]
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Guest column: Parolable lifers are safe to release; expensive to keep
By Paul D. Reingold/University of Michigan Law School In the public debate over how to save money in corrections, one group is consistently overlooked — the roughly 850 “parolable lifers” who are eligible for release. Paroling just half of them could save about $16 million a year. And the risk to the public would be […]
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Guest column: Real truth in sentencing could save really big prison dollars
By Richard Stapleton/Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending Ultimately, the least expensive prisoner is one who isn’t there. While the prison population has dropped by about 8,000 over the last five years, the Michigan Department of Corrections’ projections anticipate no further decline. But the projections assume the status quo on policies. Those assumptions can […]
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Senate panel backs prison cuts
A month ago, CFM President John Bebow urged the Senate subcommittee overseeing prison spending to take pruning shears to the governor’s proposal for 2013 to spend about $2 billion on the Michigan Department of Corrections. “(C)ontinued re-engineering of the prison system in Michigan is another chapter in the theme of Reinventing Michigan,” Bebow told the […]
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Michigan struggles against gas-tank leaks
Just before reaching the stunning vista of Grand Traverse Bay, motorists driving into Traverse City on U.S. 31 pass an abandoned gas station that symbolizes one of Michigan’s most serious but undervalued environmental problems. The former Union 76 station at the corner of U.S. 31 and West Front Street sits atop a large plume of […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Big job, little money: State lags in tank cleanup
Dale Flaherty said he and his friends in the resort town of Lake Ann used to joke that buying gasoline at the local convenience store was risky, because the fuel was allegedly contaminated with water. And they were right, sort of. Contamination did occur. No one knew until the late 1990s, though, that gasoline from the […]
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Fuel-tank cleanup leaves mess above ground, too
Michigan’s program for cleaning up leaking underground storage tank faces a major overhaul this year, one that could make cleanups simpler and less costly. But the planned changes, which are moving through the Legislature, won’t address one of the program’s biggest weaknesses: The program is grossly underfunded. Michigan spends $20 million annually cleaning up leaking […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Gov. Bill Milliken: Too good — and steely — to fail
By Craig Ruff William G. Milliken marked his 90th birthday on March 26. He became Michigan’s governor in 1969 when Gov. George Romney was appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. Milliken served as governor through 1982. During his tenure, Michigan moved to the forefront on a variety of reforms, among them passage of open meetings and […]