Michigan businesses, which have already won a $1.6 billion business tax cut, are pushing hard to repeal the state’s personal property tax on machinery, computers and other equipment. But they don’t talk much about, or even recognize, the $324 million tax cut they’ve received since 2007, the result of falling property values and lower tax […]
Despite $300 million reduction, businesses seek relief
Posted inBusiness Watch
On the block: Taxes in Lansing, Troy, Wyoming
Three residential blocks in three different Michigan communities show how the massive decline in property values and the resulting “Shadow Tax Cut” rolled across the state. Bridge looked at residential blocks in two suburbs (Troy and Wyoming) and the capital city to judge how the cut played out for individual homeowners. The figures presented below […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Michigan zigs, the nation zags
Michigan is clamping down on food stamp recipients while many other states are easing requirements. A report produced by the Michigan League for Human Services circulating among Lansing policymakers reveals that a number of states have dropped asset tests for food stamp recipients in the wake of a tough economy. According to the report (no […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Value of universities exemplified by new hospitals
The other day, my wife Kathy and I went to have a look through the new, soon-to-open University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospitals. The hospitals, located on the south side of the U of M medical system’s campus, have been under construction for the last four years. (The women’s hospital […]
Posted inMichigan Government
DNR can't guess your age
The firearm hunting season is in full swing. And even though a new state law that removes a minimum age for children to hunt won’t be fully implemented until next spring, there’s reason to believe some youngsters are hunting this month who shouldn’t. That’s a conclusion drawn from a new Auditor General’s report on the […]
Posted inSuccess
Small schools dominate championships
With 171 students, Northport Public Schools has fewer kids in kindergarten through 12th grade than Okemos High School has in its marching band alone. Mackinaw City has 187 students; Alba, 174; Stanton Township, 138. All are tiny. All are poor — as judged by the percentage of students receiving federal free lunch assistance. And all […]
Posted inSuccess
Library investment pays off for Lakeshore
Lakeshore’s state academic championship for 8th grade reading began long before the MEAP tests were placed on rows of desks in the Stevensville school. For years, the district, along the Lake Michigan shore in Southwest Michigan, has resisted a statewide cost-cutting trend to eliminate librarians. When the winning eighth-graders were in seventh grade, Lakeshore created […]
Posted inSuccess
Southfield wins graduation 'game'
Football is full of statistics: rushing yards per game; total offense; turnovers; yards after catch; passing efficiency. In the end, though, the only numbers that matter are on the scoreboard. Did you win or did you lose? Southfield Public Schools doesn’t have the best 8th-grade or 4th-grade MEAP scores. And its juniors score below average […]
Posted inSuccess
And the winners are …
Sixty Michigan public school districts claimed at least a tie for a championship in one of eight academic categories in Bridge Magazine’s Academic State Championships. Champion districts are listed in alphabetical order, regardless of division. (BRIDGE DATABASE: See how your district is doing) (BRIDGE GALLERY: Images of success) The champions Adams Township School District (8th […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about” — Oscar Wilde, British playwright and writer. * As a lover of Thanksgiving since, oh, the early 1970s, I’m confident I share culpability in this trend. For the record, I prefer a mix of breast and leg meat from the Turkey, […]
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