The Local Community Stabilization Authority (LCSA) has begun to notify interested parties of an error in the distribution of the 2023 funding under the METRO Act (Metropolitan Extension Telecommunications Rights-of-Way Oversight Act, 2002 PA 48, as amended, MCL 484.3101 to 484.3120) and the corrective plan.

The 2023 METRO Act payments were distributed to 1,754 municipalities on May 31, 2023. After the distribution, the LCSA identified an error in the distribution. This error is unique to the May 31, 2023 distribution, and does not apply to prior year distributions.

The error in 2023 distributions resulted in some municipalities receiving an overpayment and some municipalities receiving an underpayment of METRO Act funds.

All municipalities that received an over or under payment will receive a corrective action letter regarding their distribution. For 95% of the municipalities, the LCSA will correct the error in next year’s payment (May 2024) with an over or under payment equal to the error in the May 2023 payment. If any municipality would like to request consideration of another resolution, instructions will be provided in the corrective action letter. For 5% of municipalities, the majority of which are townships, that received a very large overpayment relative to their correct distribution, the LCSA is requesting that the overpayment be repaid to the LCSA as soon as possible. Instructions for repayment will be provided in the corrective action letter.

The error was the result of a miscalculation of AT&T’s METRO Act fee and its application to the various municipalities of the State. The LCSA has identified the error, unique to 2023, and has taken action to ensure a similar error will not occur in the future.

Any specific question you may have can be emailed to Jaymes Vettraino, LCSA Administrator, at [email protected].

John LaMacchia is the League’s director of state & federal affairs. He can be reached at [email protected] or 517-908-0303.