LANSING, Michigan - The Michigan Department of Treasury website has a posting dated May 15 which indicates $700,000 is still available in the second and final round of the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP). More than $4 million (of the original $5 million) in EVIP funding was awarded for 28 projects throughout Michigan communities during Round 1 in January.

Applications must be submitted to the Department of Treasury by Friday, June 15, 2012 to be considered for this round of grants. For more information about EVIP, including a grant application for local units of government and information on previous awardees, visit www.michigan.gov/treasury and click on the Local Government Services tab. Or, contact: Caleb Buhs --- (517) 335-2167.

Matt Bach is director of communications for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at (734) 669-6317 or mbach@mml.org.

The Michigan Department of Treasury now has new Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP) forms/instructions available on their website for communities that would like to certify for the third phase of EVIP by complying with Public Act 152. Click here to view the form and here to view the instructions. The deadline to qualify for this third phase of EVIP is June 1, which was moved back from the original May 1 deadline.

For more information about EVIP and PA 152 compliance, go to the League’s resource page here. Click here to view a power point presentation about the latest EVIP change and click here to view questions and answers from an April 30 webinar hosted by the Michigan Municipal League on the topic.

Matt Bach is director of communications for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at (734) 669-6317 and mbach@mml.org.

LANSING, Michigan - Today (May 10, 2012), the Michigan Senate made significant changes to SBs 1065-1072, the package of bills which exempt significant portions of personal property taxes. The League participated in many negotiations with key Senate Republicans and other local government organizations on this issue in the past several days.

Late Wednesday they proposed making significant changes to the bills in exchange for a neutral position from the League, in order to signal good faith negotiations as the bills move over to the House.

The major changes include: Reimbursing locals immediately for all voter approved millages and indebtedness (rather than waiting until 2016) reducing the threshold for reimbursement from 2 percent of all governmental funds to 2 percent of general funds, and including a repealer provision that if future legislators do not fully fund the replacement fund, the bills are repealed. This means if the legislature does not fully fund locals according to the distribution in statute, the personal property tax comes back automatically without any legislative action.

After a discussion with the League Board, there was a consensus that this was a legitimate attempt by the Senate to address the League's concerns regarding lack of assurances in the annual appropriations process. There are many issues we intend to continue working on in the House of Representatives, including increasing the level of reimbursement. Below you will find links to these bills as passed by the Senate.

The vote tally on SB 1072 bills was 22-15 with opposition from all Democrats and three Republicans - Sen. Patrick Colbeck of Canton Township, Sen. John Moolenaar of Midland and Sen. Tom Casperson of Escanaba. Sen. Mike Green (R-Mayville) was absent. The vote tally on all other bills was 23-14, with Senator Colbeck switching to support.

Read a Detroit Free Press article that nicely summarizes the issue.

Summer Minnick is the Director of State Affairs for the League. She can be recahed at (517) 908-0301 or smininck@mml.org

PPT Senate Letter.pdf (390.18 kb)

1065 Senate.pdf (19.35 kb)

1066 Senate.pdf (17.98 kb)

1067 Senate.pdf (42.87 kb)

1068 Senate.pdf (18.34 kb)

1069 Senate.pdf (21.34 kb)

1070 Senate.pdf (19.97 kb)

1071 Senate.pdf (21.01 kb)

1072 Senate.pdf (39.81 kb)

This Wednesday, the House Tax Policy Committee is taking up HBs 4860 and 4861. HB 4860 increases penalties for failure to notify the assessing office of a transfer of ownership. The League is in support of this bill. HB 4861 would establish that a supplemental tax bill is not issued to a taxpayer if the error in assessment was NOT due to an error on the part of the owner claiming the exemption. The League has concerns with this bill, and has been working with the sponsor on those issues. Both bills are being sponsored by Rep. Stamas (R - Midland).

Summer Minnick is the Director of State Affairs for the League. She can be reached at (517) 908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org