Inside 208

The legislature is moving forward with the budget process, despite not having an agreement in place with the Governor on final spending for each department for the 2019-20 fiscal year set to begin on October 1st.  Last week, the conference committees for K12 spending, higher education, community colleges, EGLE and...

*Update 8/27/2019 – Michigan Department of Treasury released additional conference information and full agenda. Click here for more information.* Earlier today, officials from the Michigan Department of Treasury released the details and opened registration for their upcoming annual Local Government Summit.  This has proven to be a very informative event in past years...

The Legislature’s summer recess continues throughout the month of July, as leaders meet with their respective caucuses to determine what approach(es) they might take during negotiations with the Governor on road funding. While tentative session days are scheduled this month, the consensus is that they will not reconvene until sometime...

Last week the State Tax Commission approved a new Frequently Asked Questions document for distribution to all relevant interest groups on the STC and Treasury's progress with the implementation of the new assessing reform proposal that was signed into law at the end of last year. This FAQ has been...

With the Legislature taking a breather last week following their work on no-fault auto insurance reform (Senate Bill 1), the focus from Lansing was on the activity at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island. Members of our State & Federal Affairs team attended the conference to...

As Treasury continues to implement changes to the state's Personal Property Tax reimbursement system that were enacted last year, many communities received the second portion of their 2018 reimbursement distributions from the Local Community Stabilization Authority (LCSA) in recent days. One element of the changes enacted last summer resulted in...

Governor Gretchen Whitmer will talk about her budget plan at the MML's 2019 Capital Conference March 19-20. Governor Whitmer and State Budget Director Chris Kolb appeared before a joint hearing of the House and Senate Appropriations committees this morning to release her Administration's budget plans for the upcoming fiscal year....

From Left League CEO & Executive Director Dan Gilmartin, Irma Esparza Diggs, League President Melanie Piana, Congressman Dan Kildee and NLC CEO Clarence Anthony. (View more photos here) They're fighting for Michigan communities. They're fighting for all the nation's communities. They are fighting for more funding for infrastructure. They're networking...

Today, Chris Hackbarth, the Michigan Municipal League's director of state and federal affairs, had an opportunity to testify before the 100th Legislature's House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee. We are encouraged that "Municipal Finance" has been added to the committee name this term. Hopefully it's an indicator that the message...

We here at SaveMICity.org highly recommend that you check out a new interview with the Michigan Municipal League’s Dan Gilmartin and Westland Mayor William Wild. The 15-minute talk on “In the W with Mayor Wild” covers an array of city-related topics, including term limits, the craziness of Lame Duck late...