ACTION ALERT

Michigan County Commissioners  Need to Take Action TODAY  Federal PILT Funding in Jeopardy   Dear MAC Members, Below you will find information and 3 steps needed to take action on this critical issue.  The first action is to have all county commissioners sign on to a NACO letter of support for PILT funding.  The second action is to contact your Congressional House members and staff to urge them to fight for PILT funding.  The third action is being completed by MAC Executive Director Tim McGuire, who has personally called Sen. Stabenow to ask her to sign the letter; Sen. Levin has already signed on.  We need you to focus on steps 1 and 2; signing the letter and talking to House members. Please contact me with any questions you may have. Deena Bosworth MAC Director of Governmental Affairs 517-282-1647 bosworth@micounties.org FY2014 Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Payments in Jeopardy  Urge Congress to Fund the PILT Program In the Final FY2014 Appropriations Measure  Please join the National Association of Counties (NACo) in urging Congress to fund the PILT program! Congress has not yet acted to provide FY2014 funding for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program (administered through the U.S. Department of the Interior), which has caused much concern for counties that have already begun the budget process for next year. Without congressional action, counties will be forced to implement budget contingency plans-making cuts to critical local government services. Immediate Action Needed on PILT 1. NACo is sending a  letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders calling on them to fund PILT in FY2014. We need as many county officials, state associations of counties and other stakeholder groups to sign the letter as soon as possible! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS TO YOUR NETWORKS!  Click here to view the letter and here to sign on. 2. Urge your House Members to contact House leaders and members of the House Appropriations Committee to request that PILT funding be included in the final FY2014 spending measure. Click here to view a list and contact information for House Leaders and Members of the House Appropriations Committee. Staff contact information has been provided. 3. Urge your Senators to sign on to the PILT “Dear Colleague” letter sponsored by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY). The deadline for Senators to sign on to the letter is this Friday, December 20. Click here to view the letter. If your Senator would like to add their name to the letter, please have their congressional staff contact Darrin Munoz (Sen. Enzi) at Darrin_Munoz@enzi.senate.gov or Jeanette Lukens (Sen. Udall) at Jeanette_Lukens@tomudall.senate.gov. Background on PILT The PILT program provides payments to counties and other local governments to offset losses in tax revenues due to the presence of tax-exempt federal land in their jurisdictions. Counties with federal land in their jurisdictions often provide vital services on those lands, such as solid waste management, search and rescue and emergency medical services. Any delay or reduction of PILT dollars will disrupt county operations. Counties nationwide request swift passage of legislation to extend mandatory PILT funding for FY2014 and beyond. NACo Resources on PILT To View NACo’s recently released presentation on PILT, click here  To view NACo’s policy brief on PILT, click here If you have any questions or comments, please contact NACo Associate Legislative Director Ryan Yates at ryates@naco.org or 202.942.4207

HB 6022, 6024, 6025, 6026, and SB 1065-1071 Personal Property Tax (PPT) On the last day of the lame duck session, Lt. Governor Calley and MAC reached an agreement on the PPT package of bills that would tie bar the entire PPT repeal to the passage of the use tax vote in 2014. This move, along with the inclusion of jails in the essential services assessment and the movement of the minimum threshold for 80% reimbursement from the state, brought MAC to a neutral position on the bills. Although the package is not perfect, the Lt. Governor and the House and Senate have agreed to keep working throughout the next legislative session to address any unanswered questions and unfinished issues. This package represents a significant improvement over all other options on the table. It has been our goal to achieve the most comprehensive and reliable replacement revenue source for our counties. The other option on the table was complete elimination of new personal property tax for new purchases starting Jan. 1, 2013 without any reimbursement plan. This would have left counties at a negotiating disadvantage with little incentive for the other interest groups to negotiate reimbursement proposals. All counties in Michigan will be eligible to assess an essential services assessment and 63 of Michigan’s counties will be eligible for reimbursement from the diversion of the state’s use tax. SB 1021 and 1022, HB 5367 Payment In Lieu of Tax (PILT) SB 1021 and SB 1022, sponsored by Sens. Casperson (R-Delta County) and Booher (R-Osceola County) respectively, are on their way to the Governor for a signature. The bills increase state payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) obligations to counties according to inflation. In addition, they would allow counties to apply fees and penalties against the state if PILT payments are late or are not fully paid. In all, the bills would increase PILT payments to local units of government by about $9.7 million. MAC thanks Sens. Casperson and Booher, along with Rep. Frank Foster (R-Emmet County), the Governor, and all of the Northern Senators and Representatives for their hard work on this issue. Additionally, HB 5367, sponsored by Representative Chuck Moss (R-Oakland County), is on its way to the Governor for a signature. The bill provides supplemental appropriations in the amount of $2.6 million to fully fund the state’s PILT obligation for the current year. Special thanks to Representative Moss, Senators Casperson and Booher, and the Governor for getting this done for counties.

Hello MAC Members and followers, and welcome to the new blog of the Michigan Association of Counties. Today felt like an appropriate day to launch our new blog seeing as it is such a crucial day to our nation.  Government, from local up to federal, has such an impact on our daily lives, and it is an amazing opportunity to take part in the decisions that are made through the ability to vote. Here at MAC, we are continuing to fight for the interests of county government and their residents.  As we head into lame duck, MAC will be working on your behalf for favorable outcomes to issues as important as personal property tax, indigent defense, labor issues, court reform and PILT. You can follow the progress on these issues and more on our Facebook page, twitter feed, and website. It is our hope that this blog will be an additional source to keep our members and followers informed and up-to-date on what we are up to.  So stay tuned!  There is way more to come! Thank you for following, and happy voting!