By Tom Cook Tom Cook is a member of the Owosso City Council and executive director of the Cook Family Foundation. The city of Owosso has a budget problem — and has had one for the last five years. Good management, tough policy decisions and sacrifices by residents and employees of the Shiawassee County community […]
Proposal A
Posted inGuest Commentary
Local governments’ fiscal distress worsened by state’s actions
CHOICES MATTER: For two decades, decisions at the State Capitol have consistently damaged the ability of local governments to raise the money necessary to make their communities attractive places to live, work and do business, argues Mitch Bean. I am concerned about what seems to be a significant decline in the fiscal health of local […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Why is education establishment resisting school reform?
By Peter B. Ruddell/Wiener Associates It’s about the kids, not the district. Despite the Center for Michigan’s recent report and Michigan’s mediocre (but improving) education achievement, the entrenched education establishment is arguing the status quo is good for kids. This time the arguments come high atop the traditional education establishment’s ivory tower – from David […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Legislature, Snyder can’t deny public their 2014 crack at Right to Work, tax changes
Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican lawmakers are aiming to funnel reaction to what has been an extraordinary two years of controversial legislation onto the partisan section of the 2014 general election ballot. How negative the reaction is will determine the shelf life of the pro-business agenda they’ve spent two years enacting. The 96th Michigan Legislature […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Final arguments on Proposal 5
Proposal 5 is a constitutional amendment to require supermajorities of members of each legislative chamber to approve state tax increases or seek approval from the voters. Tax increases would require the votes of at least 25 members of the 38-member Senate and 73 members of the 110-member House of Representatives. If a tax matter went to […]
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
Guest column: Communities should find tax-spend 'niche'
By Mark Skidmore/Michigan State University Consumers instinctively look for bargains — quality products at a good price. We purchase the items that offer the right combination of price and quality we desire. This principle also hold true when we look for a place to live. Potential residents “shop” for the right mix of quality and […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
'Shadow Tax Cut' deepens local budget crises
A $900 million cut in property tax revenues since 2007, the “Shadow Tax Cut,” has devastated the budgets of local governments that heavily rely on these taxes to provide police and fire protection — and a host of other services. They’ve laid off hundreds of firefighters, police officers and other employees; cut pay and benefits; […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
$1.6 billion shaved off Michigan property tax bills
Thousands of Michigan home and business owners have been the recipients of hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax cuts in recent years — a savings that few seem to recognize. Property owners in the state as a whole have seen property taxes fall nearly $900 million between 2007 and 2010. Adjusted for inflation, […]
Posted inTalent & Education
CRC reports on what Prop A hath wrought
There’s political dynamite to be detonated in the latest report on education funding out of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan. Not from CRC, mind you. As usual, the invaluable nonprofit, nonpartisan organization does what it does: tackle the numbers and details to show citizens who want to know what is actually going on with […]