The legislature is one again considering cancer presumption legislation. After being vetoed by Governor Engler in 1998 cancer presumption has returned in some form each legislative session.

This morning the Senate passed Senate Bill 211, a bill that creates a cancer presumption for firefighters. It is presumed that if a firefighter develops certain types of cancer that it occurred during the course of his or her employment.

The League has always opposed cancer presumption because in its previous versions it would more than double workers compensation premiums for communities with full-time firefighters.  We consider that a conservative estimate. In a time where communities’ budgets are still reeling from revenue sharing cuts and property tax declines, this is a cost our communities are unable to afford.

In the Senate-passed version the First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund is created in workers compensation but as a separate fund (similar to what the State has done with the silicosis or dust fund). Unlike the dust fund (where workers compensation providers are charged an assessment) the legislation indicates that the State will pay for claims submitted to the fund.

The bill indicates that the fund will not begin until the legislature appropriates money. If there is not enough money in the fund, claims will not be paid.

The legislation now goes to the House for consideration.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the League. She can be reached at 517-908-0306 and sharkins at mml.org.

Today the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 850, a bill that would exempt police and fire from PA 54 so they can have retroactive pay increases after a contract expires. In 2011 the legislature passed a number of reforms to help employers control costs and be better stewards of taxpayer resources. One of the, if not the, most significant reform was to prohibit retroactive pay increases after a contract has expired. This game changing statute, PA 54 of 2011, has helped communities settle contracts more quickly and provides more certainty in municipal budgets. Passage of SB 850 would be detrimental to our ability to settle contracts quickly and efficiently.

I urge you to contact your legislators to let them know how detrimental this carve out would be. The arguments the public safety groups use for supporting this bill are that the number of PA 312 filings would proliferate and the legislature only intended this bill to impact teachers.

According to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission there were only 43 PA 312 filings in 2013 as opposed to 69 in 2011. PA 312 filings are significantly lower than they were before enactment of PA 54.

In addition, even if the legislature only intended this for teachers, it has been a game changer for municipal budgets, and it’s critical that we keep this tool to allow local units the opportunity to settle contracts expeditiously and save taxpayers money.

We appreciate all the members who have already contacted their lawmakers on this issue and we hope others follow their lead. It is critical that you please contact your legislators and ask them to OPPOSE Senate Bill 850. You can find the contact information for your Legislators here.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

This afternoon the House Committee on Detroit’s Recovery and Michigan’s Future reported a package of bills, House Bills 5566-5575, that seek to deal with the bankruptcy in the City of Detroit. The state will appropriate $194.8 million dollars that will go toward the city’s pension system.

In exchange there are a number of conditions set forth in the package. The bills create an oversight commission that will have approval over the city’s major financial decisions including contracts over $750,000 and collective bargaining agreements. As amended in committee if the commission does not reject a contract for $750,000 or more in 30 days it would be deemed approved. Public Act 312 awards are also subject to review by the commission.

The legislation also requires the city to establish the position of chief financial officer. The bills as amended in committee allow the City to choose between defined contribution plans and defined contribution for new hires but caps the city contribution at 7 percent of base pay. The package also prohibits the City of Detroit from opting out under PA 152 of 2011.

The bills limit travel pay for retirement system board members. Additionally they prohibit new millages for the Detroit Institute of Art.

The bills very narrowly define eligibility for these provisions as a city over 600,000 that is in bankruptcy. We expect the legislation to be on the House floor as early as this week, and anticipate the bills will move quickly through the legislature.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

This month Rep. Andy Schor (D-Lansing) introduced legislation that would allow cities to implement land value taxation.  Land value taxation would place the property tax burden on the actual land and not the buildings or improvements.

This concept has been used widely in other states (most notably in Pennsylvania). Land value taxation encourages investment by taxing the value of the land more heavily than improvements. This incents a property owner to develop property in order to balance the tax burden.

Rep. Schor’s bills, House Bills 5495 and 5496, would allow communities to create land value taxation zones similar to what has occurred with Renaissance Zones. The community can have as many zones as it likes, and they don’t need to be contiguous.

We look forward to working with Rep. Schor and other legislators to push forward this innovative concept to give local communities more options to incent development of property. The League’s Partnership for Place Agenda calls for land value taxation as one of many steps to improving Michigan’s communities as well as the state.

A 2013 article by Next City does a really nice job explaining this taxation issue and the benefits of land value taxation. Check it out.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Yesterday the House Appropriations Committee passed House Bills 5414 and 5501, legislation that would repeal Driver Responsibility Fees. The fees were enacted over a decade ago to penalize “bad” drivers. The fees have contributed more than $100 million to the state’s general fund.

In addition they fund Fire Protection Grants for local communities. Fire Protection Grants are given to communities who have state buildings (i.e., office buildings, prisons, universities) that are not on the tax rolls to compensate for fire protection.

The League approached the sponsors and asked for dedicated funding for Fire Protection Grants. The committee discussed at length that they would find funding for these important grants. The sponsor is working with the House Fiscal Agency to identify a dedicated source of revenue.

 

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Late last week the House introduced a package of bills, House Bills 5566-5575, that seek to deal with the bankruptcy in the City of Detroit. The state will appropriate $194.8 million dollars that will go toward the city’s pension system.

In exchange there are a number of conditions set forth in the package. The bills create an oversight commission that will have approval over the city’s major financial decisions including contracts over $750,000 and collective bargaining agreements. Public Act 312 awards are also subject to review by the commission.

The legislation also requires the city to establish the position of chief financial officer. The bills require defined contribution plans for new hires and prohibits the City of Detroit from opting out under PA 152 of 2011.

The bills limit travel pay for retirement system board members. Additionally they prohibit new millages for the Detroit Institute of Art.

The bills very narrowly define eligibility for these provisions as a city over 600,000 that is in bankruptcy. Hearings begin for this package on Tuesday, May 13, and we expect they will move quickly through the legislature.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

This afternoon the Michigan Senate reported its version of the budget that scraps the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP) and reworks the revenue sharing formula.

The Senate’s proposal includes an additional $31 million for revenue sharing for local communities. The proposal would give a 1 percent increase to all cities, villages and townships who were eligible for EVIP in 2013-14 upon showing they have a dashboard (the only bit of EVIP left in this proposal.)

The remaining $28.6 million would be distributed based upon a formula that looks at adjusted unit type population, taxable value, and tax yield equalization. No payments of less than $3,500 would be made.

In computing unit type population, townships over 20,000 and townships over 10,000 that offer 24-hour police and fire services and water and sewer services to more than 50 percent of their residents would receive the same weight as cities.

The Senate proposal also includes $10 million in grants to communities who show signs of probable financial distress. A community could receive up to $2 million for projects or services to help them move toward fiscal stability.

The Senate Fiscal Agency has put together a comparison of the House and Senate EVIP recommendations that is available here: EVIP comparison

A huge thank you to Senator Pappageorge for removing these burdensome EVIP requirements. On the Senate floor Senate Pappageorge announced that EVIP has done its job, and it’s time to move on. We are always vocal when we don’t like something, so please make sure you take time to say thank you. You can email Senator Pappageorge here.

We are also pleased that we are having a discussion about distributing scarce resources to communities who are providing services. Of the three proposals before us, this one is certainly moving in the best direction to help communities provide essential services and create the kinds of places that will attract and retain talented employees and jobs.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

The EVIP/CIP Category 3: Unfunded Accrued Liability Plan is due on June 1, 2014.

Submissions can be emailed to TreasRevenueSharing@michigan.gov or faxed to 517-335-3298 up to (and including) 11:59pm on Sunday, June 1, 2014. 

Please check Treasury’s website for additional information, including the required Certification Form 5074, available templates and FAQ’s.  The list of required documents is also available on Treasury’s website.

When filling out the Certification Form, the “Contact Name” should be the person who can answer questions pertaining to the submitted plan.  Usually this is the person who has completed the plan.  The Chief Administrative Officer’s name does not need to be the contact name (unless he or she can answer questions pertaining to the submitted plan).

Additionally the League has worked with MERS to put together a template that may be used when sending information to Treasury. That form is available online.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

The application for FY 2014 – Round 2 of the Competitive Grant Assistance Program (CGAP) is now available.

The application is available on the Department of Treasury’s website.

There is approximately $8.0 million in CGAP funding available for this round.  Applications are due to the Michigan Department of Treasury by June 25, 2014.  Starting on June 2, 2014, the grant panel will begin reviewing the grant applications submitted.  Qualified grants may be awarded on a rolling basis.

If you have specific questions you can always contact me or the Department of Treasury directly at TreasRevenueSharing@michigan.gov

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Yesterday the House passed the omnibus budget that included changes to EVIP.

Under this proposal category 1, the dashboard, would remain in effect without change.

One change made on the House floor was to eliminate one category. As the budget passed out of committee, category 2 would require 5 percent of the second EVIP payment to be committed to road construction or preservation.This provision has been eliminated.

Category 3 as passed out of committee is now Category 2. This would require 5 percent of the payment to be committed to unfunded liabilities. The language further says that a community that receives less than $50,000 in EVIP funding would not have to comply with the EVIP requirements.

In addition the House proposes changing how EVIP funds are distributed. A local unit would receive a 1 percent increase if they were eligible for payment in the current fiscal year or $7.14609 per capita, whichever is greater. The per capita formula would add include hundreds of additional communities to the formula without regard to service provision.

We appreciate the step of eliminating one burdensome EVIP requirement. It’s certainly a step in the right direction. We do, however, have significant concerns about the per capita distribution language and its disregard for both local control in spending and distribution to communities who provide services. We will continue to work on language that helps invest in communities who provide essential services and does not penalize them by requiring that they spend money as the legislature dictates. Contact your legislators and urge them to oppose the formula changes.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org