More than 100 municipal leaders attended a live chat hosted by the Michigan Municipal League Tuesday about bills approved in the lame duck session of the Michigan Legislature in recent weeks.
During the live chat, led by the League’s Anthony Minghine and Samantha Harkins, Minghine started out explaining that the purpose of the call was to inform League members about the action taken in Lansing and that the League will have future education materials and sessions for members that will delve more deeply into the bills and potential issues and concerns members may have about them. Go here to listen to a recording of the chat. Go here for a spreadsheet communities can use to calculate the impact of the PPT plan.
The main issue discussed Tuesday was the repeal of the business personal property tax (view a detailed blog post about the package of PPT bills approved by the Legislature). The PPT is a tax on manufacturing equipment that is collected locally. It’s a huge amount of revenue for some cities with a large industrial base, such as River Rouge, where industrial property comprises 57% of the city’s taxable value; Auburn Hills, where 22% of the city’s taxable value comes from the personal property tax; Romeo where 37.4% of the city’s taxable value comes from the PPT; and Detroit, where 16.6% of the city’s taxable value comes from PPT, according to 2010 figures compiled by the League.
Other legislative issues reviewed on the call were the emergency managment bill, and regional transit authority bills. A flurry of bills went before the Legislature during the lame duck session and many have a direct and indirect impact on Michigan communities. Here are links to League blog posts about bills related to the following issues:
– Medical Marijuana
– Changes to the recall law
– Pawn shop local pre-emption
– Village elections moved to November
– Brownfield redevelopment financing amendments
– Indemnification bill for contractors
– Expanded strategic water quality initiatives loan program
Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 734-669-6317 and [email protected].
