Locals waiting at starting line on road funding

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s road bonding plan, highlighted in her State of the State address Wednesday night, will leave counties without the additional resources they need.

“We’re disappointed it’s not a comprehensive plan to deal with infrastructure,” said Stephan Currie, executive director. “Counties are responsible for 74 percent of the road miles in our state, yet the proceeds from her bonding proposal would go only to state roads.”

Counties are responsible for the lion’s share of Michigan’s 120,000 miles of paved roads – 74.4 percent. In Kalkaska, Lake and Montmorency counties, more than 90 percent of road miles are under county control.

And the most acute needs for road repair are local roads. As of 2018, 47 percent of county lane miles were in poor condition, compared to 27 percent in poor condition for state trunklines, says the Transportation Asset Management Council.

And in a recent poll, far more Michigan residents trusted their local governments to spend any new road dollars (59%) than the state (23%).

“We recognize the governor’s options are limited, but this option leaves locals out of the equation entirely,” Currie noted.

On Thursday, the State Transportation Commission voted to authorize the Michigan Department of Transportation to issue $3.5 billion in bonds for state road work.

Infrastructure investments, from roads to water control, are among MAC’s legislative priorities in 2020.

“Our members stand ready to work with Gov. Whitmer and legislators of both parties to identify best practices and secure funding so county governments can do the work that Michigan residents expect,” Currie said. “We have a great deal of work ahead of us.”

For more information on MAC’s infrastructure advocacy, contact Deena Bosworth at bosworth@micounties.org.

 

MAC has joined with six other organizations representing local governments, environmental causes and schools to urge defeat of a bill that guts local oversight over the location and operations of sand and gravel mining in Michigan.

The Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is holding its second hearing today (Jan. 29) on Senate Bill 431, which would allow sand and gravel pits to operate essentially whenever and wherever they would like. The unnecessary and overreaching bill, sponsored by Sen. Adam Hollier (D-Detroit), would eliminate zoning authority and oversight capability from local governments—regardless of where the operation is located or its impact to nearby residents, schools, businesses, hospitals or others.

“The bill has two fundamental problems,” explained Deena Bosworth, director of governmental affairs with the Michigan Association of Counties. “It engages in pre-emption of local control, so that’s a ‘no’ right there. Also, it’s built on a dubious market study purporting to show a looming gravel shortage. We don’t know where all the different types of aggregate are in the state and where they would be needed. You don’t usurp local authority if you don’t even know there is a crisis.”

Bosworth’s remarks were echoed by leaders of other opposition groups.

“Senate Bill 431 is a wholly unwarranted piece of legislation that eliminates local officials’ ability to have any say in the impact of sand and gravel mines in their communities,” said Neil Sheridan, executive director of the Michigan Townships Association. “While MTA supports access to materials necessary to fix Michigan’s roads, the existing process allows for local governments to balance those needs, along with those of their residents and the impact of mining operations in their borders. This bill, however, removes local authority and all safeguards to ensure that balance.”

The legislation would essentially allow the aggregate industry to operate unfettered, with virtually zero oversight at any level of government, unfairly favoring the industry over our residents, students and the environment. It places profit before people, requiring only that an applicant for mining operations prove the operation would be profitable and the extraction will not pose a risk to public health, safety or welfare that cannot be avoided.

“This bill would have a devastating impact on our cities and villages,” said Jennifer Rigterink, legislative associate for the Michigan Municipal League. “SB 431 is all about profit for the industry and has no regard for people, communities or the environment.”

See the complete coalition statement.

 

On Jan. 1, 2021, counties must have a plan and changes in place to comply with the law on E911 (Enhanced 911 services).

A March 24 webinar, sponsored by MAC and Abilita, will help answer your questions concerning E911 compliance.

Consider this: An employee at your office has a medical emergency after normal working hours with nobody around. He or she dials 911 from a desk phone and the ambulance arrives at your location. However, since it is after hours and the building is more than 20,000 square feet on multiple floors. The first responders are delayed finding the individual that dialed 911. This is a possibility; and the situation can be even more complicated if there are multiple buildings tied to one phone system through VoIP technology.

The E911 law was enacted to change this.

Among questions explored in the 45-minute webinar will be:

1. What is E911 and why a new law in Michigan?
2. What is required for compliance?
3. Who does this apply to?
4. Is there any ongoing maintenance involved with this?
5. What if we don’t do anything?

The webinar will run from 11 a.m. to noon on March 24. It is free and open to staffers at any MAC member county. To register, click here.

After the March 24 presentation, a recorded version will be placed on the MAC website for 24/7 viewing through the rest of 2020.

Protecting and improving funding for Michigan’s 242 trial courts and ending the diversion of critical local funds via state-mandated property tax exemptions are among eight legislative priority areas for Michigan’s 83 counties in 2020.

The state priorities were released by the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC), which represents county governments in Lansing, in advance of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address, set for Wednesday, Jan. 29.

“The major themes you see in these priorities are that counties are responsible for vital public services, yet the funding for that work is insufficient, tenuous or directly under attack,” said Stephan Currie, executive director of MAC. “While Michigan’s economy is doing well, provision for public services has lagged. We have to invest in public health, in infrastructure, in public safety, but our members can’t do so if state leaders limit or reduce our resources.”

The eight priority areas are:

• Ensuring stable, proper funding for trial courts
• Reforming Michigan’s system of financing local government
• Addressing roads, underground infrastructure and threats to Michigan’s waters and shorelines
• Ensuring viability and responsibility in public mental health systems
• Ensuring the state covers costs for property tax exemptions
• Working to combat the opioid crisis
• Prohibiting the use of deed restrictions in property valuations
• Extending county commissioner terms to four years

“For most counties, property taxes provide the majority of the General Fund,” Currie noted, “yet only last year did taxable property values reach the level they were in 2008. Local resources haven’t recovered from the Great Recession; state leaders need to understand that and act accordingly.”

Bills to alter property tax foreclosure process introduced

After months of behind the scenes discussions, Sen. Jim Runestad (R-Oakland) and Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Oakland) have introduced Senate Bills 725 and 726. The bills seek to codify many of the best practices followed by county treasurers across the state, while also authorizing in law additional opportunities for property redemption that don’t exist now.

For several years now, media coverage has focused on select cases where a homeowner has lost the equity in their home to the foreclosing governmental unit. Upon taking a closer look at the bulk of these cases, and at the success treasurers have had in collecting back taxes and keeping the homeowners in their homes, it was revealed that the county treasurer did everything in their power under the law to notify the homeowner and work with the homeowner on a payment plan, and provided ample opportunities for redemption of the property.

SB 725 requires the following additions to the notice that is sent to homeowners entering the foreclosure process:

• A statement that payment plans may be available
• A schedule of all additional interest, penalties and fees that will accrue through the immediately succeeding March 1
• A statement warning the owner that payments made to the local tax collecting unit and not to the foreclosing governmental unit, may not be applied to the delinquent account that put them in foreclosure in the first place
• The name and contact information for an individual in the county treasurer’s office with whom the taxpayer may discuss options for payment plans, avoidance agreements and any other means by which the taxpayer may be able to prevent additional interest, penalties and foreclosure

SB 726 allows for the redemption of property after a foreclosing governmental unit has filed a petition for a judgement with the circuit court, if a payment on subsequent taxes for a principal residence was applied to subsequent tax bills but could have been applied to redeem the property and the property owner requests the payment be reapplied to the delinquent taxes.

MAC does not have a position on these bills yet but is encouraged that the bills seek to codify best practices, provide greater opportunities for people to stay in their homes and do not compromise the responsibility of property owners to pay their taxes.

 For more information on this issue, contact Deena Bosworth at bosworth@micounties.org.