Yesterday, I had a chance to be on two panels for the Michigan Economic Developers Association (MEDA), along with representatives of the Michigan Association of Counties and the Michigan Townships Association.  The first session dealt with Tax Increment Finance (TIF) laws, such as DDA's and others, and the League discussed the importance of using TIF for economic development and to redevelop communities without having tax increases.  The counties reiterated their desire to be able to opt-out of TIF’s but said they do want to try to attract jobs.  The townships indicated support for TIF’s, but that they sometimes have concerns when villages use it.  I also served on a panel where we discussed our visions for how to make communities better in the future.  The counties discussed their legislative agenda (court funding, revenue sharing, TIF opt-out, etc), the townships discussed their Pillars of Prosperity which calls for investing in place first, and I gave a variation of the Municipal League presentation on our Prosperity Agenda.  The League Prosperity Agenda presentation will be online at mml.org in a few days, so check back to see it…it is awesome!  All in all, the MEDA panels went very well, and I think we were able to have a good conversation with the economic developers about strong communities bringing talent, millennials, and jobs to Michigan.

- Andy Schor

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