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SaveMICity Events in Macomb County – Fall 2017 Michigan Municipal League
Image by Michigan Municipal League (MML)
The Michigan Municipal League’s SaveMICity initiative recently conducted two separate presentations in Macomb County. The first was a town hall-style event Thursday Oct. 5, 2017, moderated by Crain’s Business Detroit Reporter Chad Livengood and featuring the League’s Anthony Minghine, along with city officials from Sterling Heights, Roseville and Utica. View a press release about that event with additional details below. A second event happened Wednesday, Oct. 18, at the Selfridge Air National Guard base as part of the Leadership Macomb program. Minghine once again spoke at that event and this time was joined by Utica Mayor Thomas Dionne and Clinton Township Treasurer Paul Gieleghem. Both events focused on the fact that Michigan’s system for funding our municipalities is broken and needs to be fixed. Learn more at saveMicity.org.
SaveMICity press release:
State Municipal Finance System is Broken
saveMIcity event in Macomb County details funding challenges facing Michigan communities
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Michigan – You can’t cut your way to prosperity, but when it comes to Michigan communities that’s what they’ve been trying to do under the state’s current broken system for funding municipalities. And it’s not going to get any better unless the system is fixed.
That was the overriding message Thursday during a Town Hall Meeting in Macomb County attended by state legislators, local government officials, and concerned residents and business owners.
The event featured a presentation from the Michigan Municipal League’s saveMIcity initiative and discussions from city leaders from three Macomb County communities – Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool, Roseville City Manager Scott Adkins and Utica Treasurer Philip Paternoster. Also attending were State Sen. Steve Bieda, D-Warren, and Rep. Henry Yanez, D-Sterling Heights. The League’s saveMIcity initiative has been active for more than a year now and has traveled to more than 60 communities speaking to thousands of people about the broken system and need for change. Learn more at saveMIcity.org.
“Cities cannot cut their way out of this ongoing crisis,” Vanderpool said. “In our case we have lost over million in state shared revenue resulting in the need to eliminate over 200 full-time positions. In addition, we have eliminated pensions, retiree health care, privatized numerous services and it still was not enough. Cities have been forced to increase tax rates to partially recover lost revenue, but this creates winners and losers. We need bold leadership at the state level to address municipal finance reform and ensure proper funding of state shared revenue.“
Vanderpool explained that his city – the state’s fourth largest city with a population of 125,000 people – has gone from more than 600 employees to just over 400 employees in recent years. It has managed to stay afloat financially largely due to budget cuts and two voter-approved millages.
The Oct. 5 event at Macomb Community College was moderated by Chad Livengood, a reporter with Crain’s Detroit Business. The League’s Anthony Minghine, deputy director and COO, kicked things off by setting up the back story as to why Michigan’s communities struggle financially and will continue to struggle even though the state’s economy is improving. Minghine explained that Michigan ranks 50th in the nation in investment in its communities. He said that since 2002, revenues to communities went down 56 percent while revenues to the state went up 27 percent. During the Great Recession, the state balanced its own budget on the backs of local governments.
“We have disinvested in our communities and that has got to stop,” Minghine said. “The true way to fix this broken system is to raise the value of a community. We’ve got to think differently about how we fund our communities.”
The main problem, Minghine said, is that funding for local communities does not track with the economy.
The saveMIcity tour heads back to Macomb County later this month as Minghine is scheduled to speak to a group of up-and-coming Macomb area business leaders.
For additional information, contact the League’s Matt Bach, director of communications, at (810) 874-1073 (cell); (734) 669-6317 (office) and mbach@mml.org.
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