Local government advocates in Michigan recently received some good news out of the state appellate court. But local governments aren’t necessarily guaranteed more money as a result of the decision. Over the summer, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled…
For Michigan to truly succeed we most grow in population as a state. It’s that simple. With the release of the latest U.S. Census data this week, you may see headlines about the growth in this Michigan city or that…
The League is excited to release our second report detailing the state of Michigan's communities. This report entitled "Michigan's Broken Municipal Finance Model - Issues and Proposed Actions" lays out compelling evidence that Michigan's communities are struggling to survive under our…
Earlier this month as part of the Lame Duck session, the State House introduced a package of bills that would have made changes to Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB). This proved to be too big of an issue to tackle…
The Detroit Free Press killed it with their editorial "Lansing are you listening?" Their editorial board gets it and understands what we all know to be true: Michigan cannot be successful if their communities are struggling. Michigan's current economic practices…
I had the opportunity today to join former state treasurer Robert Kleine, MSU assistant professor Josh Sapotichne, and Battle Creek city manager Rebecca Fleury for a press event to announce the release of an somewhat shocking report titled Michigan's Great…
There is a very insightful article released today by Bridge Magazine that really gets at the heart our failed municipal finance system. This piece written by Ron French and Mike Wilkinson points out many sober facts that left unchanged will…
I enjoyed Stephen Henderson's take in the Detroit Free Press on how we might provide desperately needed revenue for local government. We clearly need additional revenues at the local level, and our current system is failing miserably. As Stephen accurately…
Kudos to the Detroit Free Press for a powerful article that describes all to well the reality facing Michigan's cities. The article titled, Want to fix Michigan cities?, appeared last Sunday. It points out what we have been saying, that…
When it comes to figuring out how to deal with our broken system, there is no shortage of ideas. One of the more thoughtful pieces comes from East Point City Manager, Steve Duchane. Steve penned an interesting piece he dubbed…