National Main Street Conf. in Detroit – Volunteers Needed

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The National Main Streets Conference is coming to Detroit in May and the Michigan Main Street Center is calling all hands on deck to ensure a great conference experience by all.  Nearly 200 volunteers are needed from May 17 to the 22 to provide support and assistance throughout all areas of the conference.  Because of this, the Michigan Main Street Center is looking to local municipalities and those working on downtown development to meet the challenge.

Check out the link below for a complete list of volunteer opportunities that range in time, commitment, location, and training.  Volunteers committing more than eight hours of time at the conference will receive a 50% discount in registration costs.  All volunteers will enjoy swag, an on-site reception and the peace of mind knowing that they helped contribute to the best National Main Street conference to date!

Volunteer Spot Link

For questions regarding volunteer opportunities or the National Main Street Conference in Detroit check out www.preservationnation.org/msconference or email events@nmsdetroit.org.

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

Supplemental Budget Bill with Additional Road Funding Sent to Conference Committee

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SB 608 which included additional $100 million to be spent on cost incurred during this years winter has been sent to Conference Committee. Legislators appointed to the committee form the Senate include Appropriations Chair Roger Kahn (R-Saginaw), Vice Chair John Moolenaar (R-Midland), and Minority Vice Chair Glenn Anderson (D-Westland). The House has appointed Appropriation Chair Joe Haveman (R-Holland), Vice Chair Al Pscholka (R-Stevensville) and Minority Vice Chair Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit).

There are some significant points of difference that need to be worked out but there is a general consensus that additional funds for roads will be included. Due to these differences and the time that if could take to work them out, the League continues to encourage you to contact your legislators and asked that the differences in this bill be quickly worked out and that additional funding for roads be sent to our communities as soon as possible.

John LaMacchia is a Legislative Associate for the League handling transportation and infrastructure issues. He can be reached at jlamacchia@mml.org or 517-908-0303.

Senate Takes Testimony on Provisions of Certain Utility Service Contracts

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Senate Local Government Committee took testimony yesterday on SB 687 sponsored by Senator Darwin Booher (R-Evart). This bill would regulate the provision of utility services (water, sanitary sewers, wastewater treatment, or electricity) provided by certain municipalities to other municipalities. It would prohibit a municipality providing utility service to another municipality from terminating the service, or refusing to renew the existing contract for the service, for any reason other than a lack of physical ability to continue providing that service.

This bill was introduced because of a situation in Senator Booher’s district involving the City of Cadillac and 4 surrounding townships. Cadillac City Manager Marcus Peccia did a terrific job testifying on behalf of the League. He expressed not only the concerns of Cadillac and their specific situation, but also the statewide implications this legislation could have.

The main concerns about this legislation include that it effectively voids any end date or termination clause in a contract our communities may have with a surrounding municipality because this bill would not allow that contract to be terminated and offers guaranteed renewal. Voiding a contracts expiration date does not promote good faith negotiations between parties. Rather, it provides an incentive for the non-providing community not to accept terms of a new contract that may include a higher rate for service because service must continue. Finally, this bill would have a significant impact on future collaboration efforts between communities because of the lack of certainty that would happen at the end of an expiring contract.

The League is opposed to this legislation and is very concerned about the impact of this legislation statewide.

John LaMacchia is a Legislative Associate for the League handling transportation and infrastructure issues. He can be reached at jlamacchia@mml.org or 517-908-0303.

White House Announces $600 Million in TIGER Grants Available Starting April 3rd

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The White House has announced that $600 Million will be available for the next round of TIGER grants. The Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) can be found on the DOT website at www.dot.gov/TIGER<http://www.dot.gov/TIGER along with information on upcoming informational webinars. Initially created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the previous five rounds of the program have funded 270 projects across all fifty states. Some of the details this year include:

*       No pre-applications are required for this round of TIGER.

*       Up to $35 million may be awarded for Planning Grants.

*       Date for Grants.gov to Begin Receiving Applications: April 3, 2014.

*       Deadline for Final Applications: April 28, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. EDT

For further information click here: http://www.dot.gov/tiger/nofa

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

 

 

 

Water Storage Tanks: Do your Due Diligence When it Comes to Maintenance

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Storage tank painting contractors have developed storage tank maintenance plans, often called “asset management plans”. Under these plans the contractor inspects the tank, defines the scope of work, prepares the specifications, submits a non-competitively bid quote for the work, inspects their own work, and then certifies to the owner that the work is satisfactorily completed.  The contract then calls for the owner to make annual installment payments for future work to be completed usually at 10 year frequencies. The contractor is paid in full for the future work before he returns to do it.

Potential attraction for municipalities to this approach include: The contractors offer financing usually over 4 years.  So a $300,000 project is paid off at $75,000 per year, which makes short term budgeting more manageable. The annual payments provide cost certainty for future work, there are no unknowns or general estimates for future work, which helps with long term budgeting. Turning over this work to the contractor eliminates the responsibility for managing tank maintenance, essentially it is now “out of sight and out of mind” as long as the check is sent in every year.

There are drawbacks to this approach as well that include: tank painters often recommend work be performed that is not needed.  In fact it is a rare occurrence when a tank painter inspects a tank and tells the owner it doesn’t need painting. The painters prepare the specifications for the work, often substandard and designed to minimize their cost as opposed to what is best for the tank. Unneeded additional services are sold as required including expensive mixing equipment and “biofilm” removal treatments. The price for the work is typically 50-75% higher than if the work was bid competitively to Michigan based painting contractors. There is no independent inspection of the work, and the owner may have no idea if the work, particularly on the inside of the tank was done properly, or even done at all. By making annual payments to the contractor for future work, the owner loses leverage if they are dissatisfied with the 10 year repainting project.  As the contractor has already been paid, there is no effective way to require defective work to be repaired.

The League believes it is critical for municipalities to fully investigate and perform their due diligence before entering into these contracts. The majority of owners currently under these contracts, have never had their tanks independently inspected, and have no idea if they got what they paid for. Most also never compared the cost of the contract to competitively bid results for tanks similar to theirs. Many never realized they paid for work that didn’t need to be done, removing perfectly good coatings, just to replace them (allegedly) with the same coatings.

John LaMacchia is a Legislative Associate for the League handling transportation and infrastructure issues. He can be reached at jlamacchia@mml.org or 517-908-0303.

House Committee Considers Public Safety Exception to PA 54 of 2011

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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. We are hearing the House Commerce Committee will be taking up House Bill 5097, a bill that would exempt police and fire from PA 54 so they can have retroactive pay increases after a contract expires. This would be detrimental to our ability to settle contracts quickly and efficiently.  The bill was taken up for testimony this morning in the House Commerce committee.

The committee reaction was relatively expected. There was a lot of talk about legislative history and the intent of this legislation being school employees not municipal employees.

The League testified along with a labor attorney who works with a number of communities. We indicates that PA 312 numbers are down and this statute is working well. We don’t see a need to change it.

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 House Bill 5097. You can find the contact information for your Legislators here.

We’re also starting to see some traction on this issue in the media, including an article in Gongwer News Service with the headline “MML Beginning Opposition Campaign on Retroactive Pay Raises Bill”. The article, which can be viewed here if you subscribe to Gongwer, includes references to this blog post.

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

Senate Committee Expresses Agreement with EVIP Concerns

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Yesterday afternoon the Senate General Government Appropriations Subcommittee heard testimony on the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP). The League testified about the need for additional funding and the problems with the program in general.

The chair, Sen. John Pappageorge (R-Troy), indicated that he would not be including EVIP in the Senate’s General Government budget recommendations. He did, however, express an interest in getting additional money to struggling communities.

We expect to see the budget recommendation language in the next couple of weeks.

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

Federal Tax Reform Proposal Has Consequences for Local Communities

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Ways and Means Chairman David Camp (R-MI) has released his long awaited tax reform proposal. And, unfortunately within the 1,000 page bill, there is an impact of the tax exempt nature of municipal bonds. It’s not a complete elimination, however it is significant in that, a greater proportion of investors are in the tax bracket facing the new tax. Specifically, the proposal would:

  • Partially tax otherwise tax-exempt municipal bond interest for taxpayers in the new 35-percent tax bracket, which would apply to individuals with income of at least $400,000 and married couples with incomes of at least $450,000. For these taxpayers, the proposal would effectively impose a 10-percent tax on otherwise tax-exempt interest income. The tax would apply to interest earned on both new issues and outstanding bonds.
  • Prohibit the future issuance of tax-exempt private-activity bonds, including bonds issued by private, non-profit entities. In addition, the proposal would prohibit the use of mortgage credit certificates in lieu of tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds.
  • Eliminate the ability to issue advance refunding bonds.
  • Market discount on municipal and other bonds would be required to be accreted and recognized as income annually over the life of an investment rather than at one time when a bond is sold or redeemed.
  • Eliminate the income tax deduction for state and local taxes paid by residents.

The League’s position is that since the inception of our nation, there has been a legal arrangement that one government entity would not tax another governmental entity’s funding of essential services. We believe that covenant needs to remain intact and urge Congress to remove these components from the package when it begins work on it. We will be taking this message to Congress when leaders of the League visit Washington DC.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

Michigan Senate Passes Personal Property Tax Legislation; Bills Now Headed to House

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PPT News Conference

Delta Township Manager and League member Richard Watkins speaks at a recent PPT news conference as Flint Mayor Dayne Walling (sitting far right) listens.

This morning (March 4, 2014) the Michigan State Senate passed a 10-bill package that represents months of negotiations on personal property tax (PPT) reform. The Michigan Municipal League’s message on PPT has consistently been 100 percent, guaranteed replacement. The bills do represent 100 percent replacement and a more stable reimbursement mechanism.

The bills, Senate Bills 821-830, now head to the House for consideration.  The House Tax Policy Committee has scheduled two hearings on the bills next week. We anticipate the bills moving quickly through the legislative process, likely before spring break in April.

League staff and League members (Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Holland Mayor Kurt Dykstra, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling and Delta Township Manager Richard Watkins) joined Lt. Gov. Brian Calley yesterday in a news conference about the new PPT package. Go here to read about the news conference. View more photos from today’s PPT press conference. View a League press release about the announcement.

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

Bill Allowing Locals To Regulate Carrier Pigeons Passes Senate

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The Senate passed SB 631, a bill that would give local communities the ability to regulate carrier pigeons (currently they are not allowed to so).  The local community cannot ban them but could regulate them.  A resident in Allen Park testified in support of this legislation given the situation she is forced to live next to (200 carrier pigeons in a residential neighborhood, pigeons less than 30 feet from her home).  The city offered free land for the owner to house the carrier pigeons, which he refused.  The smell and feces droppings are affecting the resident’s quality of life surrounding the owner.  This bill would allow a local community to regulate the placement of these pigeons.

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