Posted by Kyle Leppek on March 5th, 2014
If awarded, $99,000 grant would use digital marketing
LAKE CO. — Next month, county officials hope to hear that they have be awarded a nearly $100,000 grant to market Lake County as an off-road vehicle tourist destination.
On Feb. 28 a grant application was submitted by the Lake County Board of Commissioners to the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development seeking a $99,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant. If the county is awarded the grant in April, the money will be used to brand the county as an ORV tourist destination through mostly digital media.
The approximately 400 page application included assistance from the Michigan Association of Counties, county prosecutor and his staff, county clerk and her staff, county treasurer and her staff, local businesses and board of commissioners. It even involved finding the public act that formed Lake County in 1871 from the state archives.
HISTORY: Pictured is part of the original public act that formed Lake County in 1871. It was included in the county’s grant application and had to be retrieved from the state archives. (Courtesy photo)
“It was a real team effort in terms of everybody that helped kick in to get this done,” said Commissioner Dan Sloan.
Originally, the county was seeking a $100,000 grant, but that changed after the applicants realized they would score higher on the application if the amount requested was less than $100,000. Lake County’s application also is expected to score higher because of some of the challenges residents face.
“The fact that we are a county that has a lot of challenges in terms of a high poverty rate and high unemployment rate, and those are chronic, those give us greater scores than other counties,” Sloan said. “They enhance our chances of getting assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.”
If the county is awarded the grant, implementing its proposal would be a two year process. The county would use the money to establish a website, for video and photography production, create digital and print ads and other Internet related marketing. The first year would likely be spent getting everything up and running, while the following year would be a fully operational marketing campaign.
While the county would be the fiduciary, a committee consisting of county government officials and business owners would be formed to oversee the program. The hope is if residents like the program that they will continue to support it after the grant period.
Included in the application we letters from more than 30 Lake County businesses which employ more than 200 people supporting the grant. While the grant is specifically aimed toward ORV tourism, Sloan sees it helping a broad range of businesses throughout the county.
“If we can get more people in the county, we know that it is going to help our businesses; they will stop and spend some dollars,” Sloan said.
Deena Bosworth, Legislative Coordinator for MAC, talks to Michael Patrick Shiels about Personal Property Tax.
http://soundcloud.com/mibigshow/mbs-h3s4-mark-fisk-cont-deena
Your involvement is needed to help slow down the movement of the newest PPT proposal. See below for ways to get involved and how to figure out the impact this latest plan will have on your county.
Lt. Governor Calley unveiled his latest personal property tax reform package to the media on Tuesday and to the House Committee on Tax Policy on Wednesday this week. In response to the public unveiling of the plan, MAC and the Replace Don’t Erase coalition held our own media round table to discuss our take on the changes to the proposal.
The tax breaks for businesses remain the same as they were when the bills passed the Senate in May, but the new plan makes significant changes to the method and amount of revenue reimbursement to locals. The new proposal represents an improvement over the Senate passed bills (1065-1072), and we appreciate the Lt. Gov. listening to our initial concerns about subjecting our reimbursement to the annual legislative appropriations process. However, there remains many uncertainties with this new proposal and MAC has significant concerns about the potential for inequitable losses to counties and the unintended consequences of creating an authority to disburse our replacement revenue.
The plan has not been put into bill format yet, so we can only base our response, concerns and opinions on the stated intent of the legislation. As proposed the reimbursement plan would work as follows:
· Local units of government would be allowed to implement an Essential Services Assessment (ESA) on industrial real property in an amount equal to the total lost PPT revenue that was dedicated to police, fire and ambulance services. Please note, this is not all public safety expenses, just those associated with police, fire and ambulance.
· The remaining loss from PPT would be replaced up to 80% by the state with funds diverted from use tax collections.
· The electorate would have to vote on the diversion of a portion of the state’s use tax – these funds would be directed to a newly created statewide authority. This vote would happen in November 2014.
PPT CALL TO ACTION – YOUR INVOLVEMENT IS NEEDED
It is very urgent that you contact your legislators and get involved. There are only six session days left and the legislature and the administration have made passing PPT reform a priority. But there are still too many questions that need to be answered, and lame duck is not the time to rush legislation as crucial as this.
Please keep the following points in mind when discussing the issue with your Representative and Senators:
· This proposal may be better than the Senate passed version, but there is still no guarantee. If the state-wide vote doesn’t pass, then we do not have a dedicated revenue source for our reimbursement. This will leave us at the mercy of the annual appropriations process, and we all know how that worked out for us with revenue sharing.
· This legislation is moving too fast. We do not know how the plan will affect our counties, communities and schools. We need time to analyze the numbers and assess the impact. In addition, the Essential Services Assessment should be allowed for ALL public safety, not just police, fire, and ambulance. It must include all public safety functions, including 9-1-1 and jails.
· The bill language still has not been released. We know the intention of the legislation, but the devil is in the details. Without bill language, numbers and a guarantee, we cannot accept this proposal.
· We have yet to receive any calculations for the Essential Services Assessment (ESA), making it very difficult to determine the impact this will have on each county.
· We do not have specifics on the authority of the state-wide entity that will be created to reallocate the use tax and what strings could possibly be attached to such authority.
· MAC is still supportive of the repeal, but there need to be more guarantees and fewer holes in the proposal. Though this reform package is a huge step forward, and progress is being made, this is still not an ideal plan.
Please take action and speak to your legislators. The Lt. Governor’s new proposal needs to be fully vetted and any concerns rectified before action in the Legislature is takes action.
HOW DOES THIS NEW PROPOSAL AFFECT YOUR COUNTY
MAC has hired a consultant to help us determine the financial impact this proposal will have on our member counties. We are hoping to have a formula and financial calculator completed early next week. We will also be sending out a special alert requesting information to help further determine the potential impact.
Please email your information to Emily Dobson at Dobson@micounties.org
