Inside 208

MML President and Westland Mayor Bill Wild (second row left) attends a Zoom meeting with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen (bottom of frame) earlier today. Michigan Municipal League Board President Bill Wild, mayor of Westland, and other board members were actively fighting on behalf of Michigan communities in...

Governor Whitmer released her budget recommendation for the upcoming Fiscal Year 21-22 budget cycle this morning and a number of items that the League has actively been advocating for were included in this morning's announcement.  A full detail of the Executive Budget for FY2022 is available here. Following last month's...

Late yesterday, the Michigan Department of Treasury circulated the following email to local units of government requesting feedback on potential cash flow concerns local governments may be anticipating based upon current state and local economic conditions. The Michigan Finance Authority (MFA) provides effective, low-cost options for financing to municipalities. MFA...

In working with our partners at the National League of Cities, there has been a flurry of activity this week on the implementation efforts surrounding the recently passed CARES act and new federal proposals to address some of the shortcomings for local governments within the federal stimulus efforts and promoting...

Governor Snyder recently unveiled his “Marshall Plan” for talent. It’s designed to combat the more than 811,000 career openings that will need to be filled through 2024 in fields that are facing a talent shortage. The plan calls for a $100 million budget injection for a five-year work plan to...

OPEB – Since the passage of the OPEB package, Treasury has been working with our staff to develop the reporting requirements necessary to begin implementing the new law. That reporting guidance was recently published, with an initial deadline for municipalities to respond by the end of January. Additional guidance is yet to...

The joint House-Senate conference committee announced their final reconciliation of the federal tax reform proposal on Friday.  Each chamber is expected to vote on the conference report early this week, where the bill is expected to receive enough support to make it to the President’s desk. The League has been working...

Congress released the following details of the proposed federal tax reform legislation: – Ways & Means Cmte Tax Reform Highlights – bill text  https://waysandmeansforms.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bill_text.pdf Following NLC’s lead, MML staff have been talking with Michigan delegation members about preserving the State & Local Tax deduction (SALT) within the federal tax code.  The version...

***UPDATE:    The Michigan House just adjourned session for the day (Tuesday) after adopting a substitute version H-3 for HB 4001 that would reduce the income tax rate from 4.25% down to 3.9% by January 1, 2021 and stopping at that point.  Following hours of caucus and floor discussion, the...

The Michigan Senate voted Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, to discharge House Bill 4462 from the Senate Finance committee and then inserted language that many of the 22 income tax communities have weighed in on opposing. Despite the opposition, the Senate passed it late Tuesday night on a vote of 21-17. The new language added...