This week SB 556, a bill to extend the sunset of the Commercial Rehabilitation Act from December of this year to 2020, was signed by Governor Snyder! This act has been used in communities across the state to assist in eradicating blight and putting properties back to productive use.

Thank you to Sen. Horn for being such a great advocate on this issue and keeping a valuable local tool that assists our communities in blight control and economic development.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

Today, the House Local Government committee passed out SB 394 (S-2 version: SB 394 S-2), a bill to fold townships into the mix of those local communities who qualify for the Housing Law, clarifies that inspection programs are optional at the local level, and states a rental inspection fee cannot be required to be paid more than 6 months prior to the actual inspection.  The League testified in support of this legislation when it was inSenate committee.

Again, thank you to Sen. Robertson, his staff, Rental Property Owners Association, and Apartment Association of Michigan for working with us on this issue to address our concerns from last session’s legislation.

The legislation now goes to the House.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use, and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

This week SB 556, a bill to extend the sunset of the Commercial Rehabilitation Act from December of this year to 2020, received full passage from the House of Representatives! This act has been used in communities across the state to assist in eradicating blight and putting properties back to productive use.

Thank you to Sen. Horn for continuing to be an advocate on this issue and keeping a valuable local tool that assists our communities in blight control and economic development.

The legislation now goes to the Governor for his signature.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

Today, a package of bills (SB 579 and SB 619-624) to exempt separate library millages from tax Capture by tax increment financing (TIF) authorities received testimony and was voted out by the Senate Finance Committee.

The language in each bill in the package states that if the TIF authority does not have any outstanding debt or obligations, a library millage voted on prior to December 31, 2015 is exempt unless the library board decides to opt in to capture.  If the millage is voted on after December 31, 2015, the millage is exempt from tax capture unless the library board approves it.

The League testified in opposition to the bill package because of the slippery slope this creates.  This is a topic of the broader conversation of TIF reform and we feel it should be dealt with as a whole instead of breaking it off piece by piece.

The bills were voted out of committee with all yes votes except Sen. Knollenberg who passed.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

Today, the full Senate passed out SB 394 (adopted S-2 version: SB 394 S-2), a bill to fold townships into the mix of those local communities who qualify for the Housing Law, clarifies that inspection programs are optional at the local level, and states a rental inspection fee cannot be required to be paid more than 6 months prior to the actual inspection.  The League testified in support of this legislation when it was in Senate committee.

Again, thank you to Sen. Robertson, his staff, Rental Property Owners Association, and Apartment Association of Michigan for working with us on this issue to address our concerns from last session’s legislation.

The legislation now goes to the House.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use, and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

This was a big week for SB 556, a bill to eliminate the sunset of the Commercial Rehabilitation Act (set to sunset at the end of this year). On Wednesday, the bill was amended on the Senate floor to extend the sunset of the act to 2020 (instead of an elimination of the sunset) and passed out of the full Senate unanimously.  The legislation was then taken up Thursday morning in the House Government Operations committee and passed out of the committee the same day.

Thank you to Sen. Horn for continuing to be an advocate on this issue and keeping a valuable local tool that assists our communities in blight control and economic development.  Additionally, thank you to Rep. Brad Jacobson, chair of the House Government Operations committee, for taking this bill up so quickly and moving it to the House floor.

The League was joined by Chris Miller, Economic Development Director for the city of Adrian, in extending our support for the legislation through testimony today.

The legislation now awaits action on the House floor.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

As the conversation around Downtown Development Authority/Tax Increment Financing reforms and lack of reporting continues this legislative session, the MML in conjunction with the MEDC and Michigan Downtown Association has create an informational piece reminding DDAs (the TIF tool that sees the most scrutiny) of the reporting requirements they should be complying with. Please ensure your DDA leadership is equipped with this information.  That statement is below:

ATTENTION: Downtown Development Authorities

DDAs are required to submit annually to the State Tax Commission (STC) a report on the status of the tax increment financing account, pursuant to Act 197 of 1975, as amended.

It is estimated that less than 25 percent of DDAs are meeting the reporting requirement. For ease, a TIF reporting template can be found HERE. Please note that the template is not mandatory, and it is not an official Treasury document.  The information on the form is required; the template is not.

Per Act 196 of 1975, the report shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality and shall include the following:
(a) The amount and source of revenue in the account.
(b) The amount in any bond reserve account.
(c) The amount and purpose of expenditures from the account.
(d) The amount of principal and interest on any outstanding bonded indebtedness.
(e) The initial assessed value of the project area.
(f) The captured assessed value retained by the authority.
(g) The tax increment revenues received.
(h) The number of jobs created as a result of the implementation of the tax increment financing plan.
(i) Any additional information the governing body or the state tax commission considers necessary.

Helpful Hints:

• Form 2604 is not the annual financial report; some have mistakenly sent it thinking it fulfills the requirement. Form 2604 is required only of authorities capturing school taxes. Those capturing school taxes must file both the 2604 and the annual financial report.
• The DDA statute additionally requires annual  reporting to be provided to the “governing body” (i.e., the city council /village council/township board) as well.
• “Captured Values” should be broken down by property class.
• “Tax Increment Revenue” should be broken down by the jurisdictions from which it was captured.
• The report is preferred to be received in an Excel format.

Annual reporting should be sent to the STC at mailto:Treas_LAFD@michigan.gov within ninety (90) days of the end of the fiscal year for the authority.  As there has been ongoing concern regarding the lack of transparency of DDA’s, please comply, publish, and submit your annual report in a timely manner.

If you have additional questions regarding the report, please direct them to Jim Mills with the Department of Treasury at MILLSJ@michigan.gov.

Additional Resources:

• MEDC Community Assistance Team Specialist!
• Michigan Municipal League: Nikole Brown is best and can be reached at 517-908-0305 or nbrown@mml.org.
• Michigan Downtown Association: Jerry Dettloff is best and can be reached at 248-838-9711 or director@michigandowntowns.com.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use, and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

This week, the Senate Economic Development committee voted out SB 556, a bill to eliminate the sunset of the Commercial Rehabilitation Act.  Testimony was given last week on the importance of this tool for our communities and economic development now and in the future.

SB 556 now moves onto the full Senate for consideration.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use, and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org of 517-908-0305.

Today, the Senate Local Government Committee passed out SB 394 (adopted S-2 version: SB 394 s-2) , a bill to fold townships into the mix of those local communities who qualify for the act, clarifies that inspection programs are optional at the local level, and states a rental inspection fee cannot be required to be paid more than 6 months prior to the actual inspection.  The League testified in support of this legislation during the last committee hearing.

Again, thank you to Sen. Robertson, his staff, Rental Property Owners Association, and Apartment Association of Michigan for working with us on this issue to address our concerns from last session’s legislation.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use, and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

Today, the Senate Economic Development Committee heard testimony on SB 556, a bill to eliminate the sunset on the Commercial Rehabilitation Act.  This act has been used in communities across the state to assist in eradicating blight and putting properties back to productive use.

I would like to extend a thank you to Sen. Ken Horn, the bill sponsor and the chair of the committee, for taking up this issue and being an advocate for its continued use.  Thank you also to Sen. Wayne Schmidt for all of his work on this issue as well.

Additionally, thank you to the cities of Novi and Howell who were in attendance to testify.  In addition to the MML supporting the legislation, it is also supported by Michigan Townships Association, Department of Treasury, Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Bedrock Real Estate,  International Council of Shopping Centers, Building Owners and Managers Association, and the Michigan Historic Preservation Network.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use, and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org.