Taking a more regional approach to local government would improve the efficiency and economics of service delivery. Counties are in a better position to drive technology, elections, tax assessments and other back office functions.
Citizens Research Council of Michigan
Posted inGuest Commentary
Three reasons why you should want to know your hometown’s fiscal score
Eric Lupher is director of local affairs for the Citizens Research Council of Michgan, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group. Those of us who have been around for a while remember the opening of each “M*A*S*H” episode, with the doctors and nurses rushing to the incoming helicopters to retrieve and assess the newly injured soldiers. In […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Analysis: Detroit raises large sums with high tax rates
By Jeff Guilfoyle/Citizens Research Council With Michigan’s largest city now under the direction of an emergency manager, statewide attention has focused on the city of Detroit’s finances. The Citizens Research Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research firm, has published an analysis of the city’s fiscal structure and trends — Detroit City Government Revenues. This report attempts […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
*With the appointment of Kevyn Orr, Detroit, Pontiac and Flint all are under state emergency managers. Something else the three cities share: They have the three lowest rates of average household incomes among Michigan cities with at least 50,000 residents. Flint’s at the bottom at $24,779; Detroit is next at $26,253; and Pontiac is at […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Taxpayers on hook for 'captures' gone wrong
They collect taxes. They borrow money. They pay interest on their loans. They spend money on public improvements to entice businesses to locate in specific areas. And they may have the most bureaucratic of names ever coined: tax increment financing authorities. In Michigan’s capital city, a TIFA allowed the city to bulldoze porn shops, build […]
Posted inTalent & Education
GAO wades into charter-school special ed
Publicly funded independent, or charter, schools educate fewer children with disabilities than traditional public schools, suggests a new report by the Government Accountability Office. But the report, reported by Education Week here, notes that there are a number of contributing factors that make clear conclusions difficult: “Several factors may help explain why enrollment levels of students with […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Negotiating with 'heroes' no simple matter
In 2009, Ann Arbor became the poster child for critics of Michigan’s public safety binding arbitration law, as a labor settlement cost the city $1.5 million in retroactive pay raises. The judgment came as police and fire departments consumed 55 percent ofAnn Arbor’s budget and the city stared down a $2.4 million deficit. The case […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Pension costs burn through city budgets
Lansing’s taxpayers were doused with some difficult news last week: The city’s pension fund for police and fire retirees could use a nearly $2 million boost from the city’s general fund. And the city’s already fighting a budget deficit. Big-city fire departments across Michigan continue to wrestle with the legacy costs of public safety pensions, […]
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 inLand O Links
Land O Links
“What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child” — George Bernard Shaw, British playwright * Starting July 1, the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association fee, levied to cover medical costs from auto accidents as part ofMichigan’s auto no-fault insurance regime, will go up $30, to […]