Anthony Minghine and saveMIcity Heads to Lowell Thursday

The Michigan Municipal League’s Anthony Minghine will be in Lowell Thursday (Jan. 12) to discuss the state’s broken system for funding Michigan’s municipalities. This Save Michigan Cities event, which is free and open to the public, is 6-8 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Lowell High School, 11700 Vergennes, Lowell, MI 49331. Please help us spread the word!

This event is part of a statewide tour that Minghine, COO and associate executive director for the League, is doing about our state’s broken system for funding municipalities – and by municipalities we mean cities, villages, counties and townships. The presentation will include data specific to communities surrounding the Lowell area. For example, the attached flyer (left) asks what could Lowell do with $1.4 million that it should have received in revenue sharing since 2002, but we will also share the revenue sharing losses for multiple area communities. In Lowell Township, for example, the figure is nearly $1 million. In Ionia, it’s more than $4.1 million. In Belding, it’s over $2.7 million. The City of Grand Rapids has lost nearly $83 million in revenue sharing. Kent County communities combined have lost more than $170 million since 2002.

Learn why communities throughout Michigan, including those in your area, are struggling financially and will continue to suffer unless changes are made soon. Hear about and share ideas for change. While it’s free and open to the public, we do ask that you RSVP to Allison Gotelaere at agotelaere@mml.org.

Media also is welcome to attend by contact, me, Matt Bach, at mbach@mml.org or 734-669-6317.

Learn more about this initiative at saveMIcity.org and follow us on Twitter using the hashtag #saveMIcity.

Matt Bach is director of media relations at the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mbach@mml.org or 734-669-6317.