We all know Michigan’s local governments have been struggling because of a plunge in tax revenues caused by the Great Recession and the housing collapse, not to mention shrinking state revenue-sharing payments. Or do we? A controversial new study by Isabella County Administrator Tim Dolehanty claims there is, in fact, an “embarrassment of riches” at […]
Big township bank accounts draw concern, defense
Posted inMichigan Government
Behind savings, townships operate in vastly different ways
Michigan’s 1,240 townships are as diverse as the state that spawned them – some little more than a rural framework for delivering the most basic services, others quasi-cities, with ambition to match. Because of their unique fiscal management, townships frequently carry fund balances – assets and cash on hand – well in excess of expenditures. […]
Posted inSuccess
Song pushes Ann Arbor, state for 'better story'
Every Friday, at 4:30 p.m., local geeks are invited to pop a cold one at Tech Brewery in Ann Arbor. The start-up co-op, located in what was a brewery in the 1880s, rents space to network-hungry entrepreneurs. “Beer-30,” as the gathering is called, offers not just libations, but a good chance to tap into the mind of […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Truth Squad tackles 'State of State' speech
In Michigan in 2012, there’s really only one issue on the radar: jobs. How does the state get more of them? How do residents fill them? How much do they pay? In the hours leading up to Gov. Rick Snyder’s second State of the State Address, some notable numbers came in: Michigan’s unemployment rate in […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Guest column: Lawmakers lose way on higher education
By Thomas Haas/Grand Valley State University Bridge Magazine has performed an important public service by pointing out the state of Michigan’s near-wholesale abandonment of support for public higher education. For most of the 20th century, Michigan was a Top 10 state in support of the spectacular universities its citizens built and nurtured. Today, we are […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Michigan college cost dilemma bankrupts all
I’ve been observing Michigan public policy discussions for nearly 50 years. It’s amazing that, so often, it’s as though people with differing views live in two different universes. Take Michigan universities. Analysis presented last week in Bridge showed costs at Michigan public universities are higher than the average at comparable schools around the country and […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan job forecast bright – for 2030
The Michigan economy is recovering. For those of you with weak hearts, let’s leave it at that. Spend a few minutes watching a kitten stuck in a hamster ball. For those of you still here: the economy is recovering slowly. Just how slowly? I could show you a chart, but this will give you a […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Citizen amnesia bedevils public schools
Margaret Trimer-Hartley*, who knows a thing or two about public education as the head of a Detroit charter school system, wrote the following on Facebook today in response to a Detroit News editorial on teacher quality: “New teachers MUST, MUST, MUST come to us with the ability to differentiate instruction for diverse learners. That is […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Deja vu: Biz tax cuts head agenda in Lansing
“At the end of the day, we’ll be a stronger, more vibrant state,” Gov. Rick Snyder asserted a year ago in his first State of the State speech that offered the first outlines of his 2011 legislative agenda. But he didn’t say what day that would be. As he prepares to deliver his second “SOS” […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Snyder will dance with social conservatives in 2012
Gov. Rick Snyder’s quest to reinvent Michigan apparently won’t be extended to his own Republican Party. Given the chance to confirm the suspicions of cultural conservatives that he’s a different kind of Republican far more concerned with rebuilding the economy than deploying government force to advance a social agenda, Snyder punted at the end of […]