Governor Rick Snyder calls for a 15% increase to revenue sharing in his 2015 fiscal year budget, but the plan does not address the state's broken municipal finance system.

“We appreciate the Governor recommending a 15 percent increase in statutory revenue sharing. We are hopeful that this proposal is an indication that the Governor and Legislature recognize they must stop their annual disinvestment in local communities, and that they understand Michigan will not prosper again until we have local places where people want to live, work and thrive. It is a big step symbolically, but we have a long way to go. While it will mean about $36 million more for local communities, the Legislature and Governor have cut local funding by $6 billion since the late 1990s. Restoring a fraction of lost funding is not cause for jubilation from Main Street, Michigan, and it does not address our broken municipal finance system.

“To move Michigan forward, the League, along with numerous partners, has developed a policy vision and plan for Michigan’s cities called the Partnership for Place: An Agenda for a Competitive 21st Century Michigan. You can view this policy agenda here: www.mml.org/advocacy/partnership-for-place.html.”

This week the Senate Banking and Financial Services Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 295, a bill that works to prohibit individuals who own blighted properties from purchasing additional properties.

The legislation would prohibit a prospective bidder from bidding on foreclosed property if the person had any unpaid fines for the violation of a local blight or nuisance ordinance. It would also require prospective bidders to register with the foreclosing governmental unit at least 14 days before a sale.

The bill would require prospective bidders to certify that they did not own property that was subject to a foreclosure judgment in the previous three tax years, or that had been included in a foreclosure petition in the tax year in which the sale was held.

In addition the bill would require the deed for transferred property to provide for the title to revert to the foreclosing governmental unit if, within five years after the sale, the property were transferred to the person who owned it when the foreclosure judgment was entered.

The League supports the concept behind the bill, and we are working with the sponsor’s office to ensure the process is workable.  The committee did not vote on the legislation.

This Wednesday morning, the House Tax Policy committee will be holding a shortened committee hearing on TIFs/DDAs.  We will be testifying in support of these tax capture districts and the Michigan Association of Counties will be testifying as well, likely discussing their desire for more opt out ability.

As this conversation heats up, it would be very helpful if you could contact your legislators and not only discuss with them the benefit these districts have provided to your community but also invite them to the district so they can see firsthand the positive impact.  Have them talk with business owners, residents, etc. to get their perspective of the positive impact as well as from the local community’s perspective.

This is the perfect opportunity for communities to show the benefits of their TIF districts and the great things that have happened because of them that not only benefit the local community but also the region surrounding it.  Discuss with them what an opt-out would do to the economic development efforts of your community and how useful these tools truly are.

Please feel free to contact me to talk about this further or with any questions.

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

Earlier this week the Senate Finance Committee reported HB 5074, a bill that would change the monthly interest rate that a county treasurer can charge other taxable units in the county that have delinquent property taxes due. The current monthly rate of interest is one percent. Under the bill, the monthly rate of interest would be “up to” one percent.

Under Michigan’s tax reversion process, county treasurers can assess “chargebacks” under the protocol they follow when local units of government have borrowed from a county’s delinquent tax revolving fund. If summer and winter property taxes are not collected by March 1 of the following year that the tax is owed, local treasurers pass on notices of unpaid or delinquent taxes to county treasurers. In many counties, the county treasurer runs a delinquent tax revolving fund.

This week the Senate Economic Development Committee considered Senate Bills 658 and 659, bills that would force more online retailers to collect sales tax at the point of the sale. Current law requires customers to report online sales and pay taxes on those sales, but enforcement is not efficient.

This legislation goes hand in hand with the Marketplace Fairness legislation the League has been supporting at the federal level.

The League supports the bills, and the committee did not vote on the legislation.

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

HB 5131 and 5132 (Rep. Harvey Santana, D- Detroit) would amend the Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act and the Economic Development Corporations Act to allow a local BRA or EDC to adopt a rule linking an appointment of a public official to that board to the expiration of that official’s service as a public official, including a resignation or removal from office.  This is permissive.  These bills passed out of committee last week and passed out of the House yesterday.

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

HB 4487, a bill to allow Downtown Development Authority funds to be used for creating and operating a marketing program for local agricultural (think local farmer’s markets), passed out of the House Commerce committee.  The DDA act does not currently prohibit this type of activity but the sponsor (Rep. Stacey Erwin Oakes, D-Saginaw ) wanted to make it clear that it is allowable.  An additional hope of the bill sponsor is that this legislation would bring to light the ability of DDAs to do this and thus they would begin partnering (or create) with their local farmer’s market in an effort to make it more vibrant.  The MEDC is supportive of this effort to create strong farmer’s markets.

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

Governor Snyder signed HB 4996, the crowdfunding legislation that unanimously passed the legislature at the end of last year. The League was happy to attend the bill signing this week with Governor Snyder and Rep. Nancy Jenkins (sponsor of the bill) along with Chris Miller from the city of Adrian and other organizations who supported this unique way of economic development for communities in Michigan. It was our honor and privilege to be involved with the passage of these bills and we look forward to seeing it get off the ground in Michigan.

There will be a session on crowdfunding at our Capital Conference on Wednesday, March 19. To register for the conference, please go here.

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

This afternoon the Senate Finance Committee reported Senate Bill 402, a bill that would ultimately reduce the rate of the state income tax from 4.25 percent to 3.9 percent.

The legislature is mandated by statute to provide revenue sharing payments to local units of government, yet in the last decade it has diverted $6 billion to fill its own budgetary holes.

We’ve repeatedly heard “there’s no revenue to share” even though that statement has obviously been uttered by those who do not understand that revenue sharing belongs to local units of government. The state’s role is merely to collect the revenue and remit it to the local units. It has broken that promise.

Either way now that there is “revenue to share” there has been zero discussion about giving that money back to local units in hopes of restoring the money that has been taken unlawfully. As a result the League opposes any sort of tax relief without a comprehensive discussion of how state resources should be allocated.

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 morning the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 428, a bill dealing with the purchase of U.S. flags by local units of government.

The substitute bill considered by the committee (flag bill) requires a local unit of government to purchase flags made in the United States if there they are competitively priced with flags made in other countries. If a local unit purchases a flag from another country (because competitively priced ones are not available), the local unit must post on its website the location where the flag was purchased.

The committee did not vote on the legislation.

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