Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Deena Bosworth of MAC and Steve Liedel of Dykema law firm
Topic: In a special episode to launch its 2024 season, MAC’s Podcast 83 looks at a radical ballot proposal that, if adopted, would blow a nearly $3 billion hole in county revenues.

MAC’s Stephan Currie and Deena Bosworth interviewed guest Steve Liedel of the firm of Dykema in Lansing, an expert in elections law, about the process that the group “Ax MI Tax” is using to try to ban property taxes in Michigan.

In fiscal 2022, Michigan’s 83 counties levied nearly $2.9 billion in property taxes for their operations, which would disappear under the proposed constitutional amendment.

In fiscal 2020, Michigan collected 37 percent of its state and local revenue from property taxes, well above the national average. Only 10 states were more reliant than Michigan on property taxes for revenue for public services.

The anti-tax group has twice visited the Board of State Canvassers, which reviews ballot proposals, but left without any approved language or petition forms. Undaunted, the group says it plans to collect signatures anyway to force a vote in 2024, a course Liedel detailed as having many “risks” from a legal standpoint.

After banning property taxes, the measure also would impose supermajority requirements in both legislative chambers to effectively increase taxes, in effect giving 33 percent of legislators a veto over state tax policy.

Liedel noted that the measure’s calls for “replacement revenue” are likely to fall far short of what is currently collected.

“Local millages are gone for your veterans, for your roads, for public safety …” Currie said.

“They are trying to bankrupt government,” Bosworth said.

A sweeping, yet vague, set of recommendations by a state

Host Stephan Currie and MAC Governmental Affairs Team of

Responding to a question by Currie about the role and

As always, the question of money is central to the discussion,

“It’s billions of dollars … to implement all of these

“I don’t know how hard it hits on what we do about (attracting

“It was great to put all this information together,” Bosworth

“We are 25 percent below the revenue we were collecting in

Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Amy Dolinky and Samantha Gibson of MAC
Topic: A special episode of Podcast 83 features MAC’s opioid settlement services to member counties.

Host Stephan Currie interviews Amy Dolinky, MAC’s technical adviser for settlement services, about her work with dozens of Michigan counties and what questions and issues have arisen in her statewide travels.

“I’m engaged with 60 counties providing various levels of support,” explained Dolinky, who joined MAC about a year ago to work specifically with members on the complicated task of best deploying national opioid settlement dollars in their communities.

Dolinky explained she has been involved in everything from helping counties plan for creation of an advisory panel, all the way to helping folks think through what transparency looks like with their spending decisions.

“And (MAC has been) working with some counties on strategic planning efforts,” she noted.

During the discussion, Currie and Dolinky reviewed the payment timeline, with Dolinky noting that while each company has a set number of payments, they are not being issued on a standard fiscal year or annual basis — and amounts can differ from year to year.

Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata, and Samantha Gibson of MAC
Topics: Potential new funds for public safety and long-needed repairs to the state Open Meetings Act are two of several issues discussed in Part II of Podcast 83’s “Legislative Year in Review.”

Host Stephan Currie again welcomed the MAC advocacy team of Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson to review key county issues in 2023 and how some of them may change in 2024, including:

Open Meetings Act: “This has been a slow process this year,” said Fata. “Over 10,000 groups adhere to OMA. … The needs are all over the place. The goal for MAC is to be able to fully participate, including voting, remotely, as long as a physical quorum is present. At least two bills introduced … that are great for smaller organizations but for county commissioners still not where we want it to be.

“We just want that ability to participate remotely as long as physical quorum is present. … We don’t have any legislation that is meeting our needs,” she added.

Public Safety Trust Fund: “(The fund) is two-bill package, modeled after our Revenue Sharing Trust Fund bills,” said Bosworth. “They carve out percentage of state sales tax and allocate to pub safety trust fund. … Part of revenue (goes) to local units of government based on their portion of violent crime throughout the state. We have worked really hard to figure out how we could get counties recognized in that legislation.

“At this point, it has passed out of house and is awaiting action in Senate,” she added.

Designated assessor: Bosworth said MAC and counties are “in a good spot” regarding legislation to have the State Tax Commission hire designated assessors, freeing local governments from a long-standing struggle to find qualified individuals. The legislation will continue its path through the process in 2024, she added.

Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata, and Samantha Gibson of MAC

Topics: Legislative successes on juvenile justice reform, property tax reimbursements and revenue sharing highlight the first of two episodes of Podcast 83 that are looking back at 2023 in the State Capitol.

Host Stephan Currie and the MAC governmental affairs team of Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson reviewed the county perspective on the following:

Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata, and Samantha Gibson of MAC

Topics: In their latest episode, host Stephan Currie and team members Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata, and Samantha Gibson look back on and discuss what happened the last week of regular session as the legislature goes sine die. They also discuss what the legislature will look like as we move into 2024.

Fata reported on the MAC-opposed solar and wind siting legislation. MAC was able to negotiate some amendments to the legislation. The legislation was passed on party lines by both chambers and is headed to Governor's desk in the coming weeks.

Gibson reported on the Juvenile Justice Reform package. 19 of the 20 bills passed both chambers and is headed to the governor's desk. The bill that did not move was the bill to expand MIDC to include Juveniles. Gibson explains why this bill wasn't passed and what that will look like.

Bosworth reported on the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund bills, which passed the House and are in the Senate's Finance, Insurance & Consumer Protection Committee. She also gave an update on the Public Safety Trust Fund, which is also over in the Senate.

Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata, and Samantha Gibson of MAC

Topics: In their latest episode, host Stephan Currie and team members Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson look at what this week looks like as the Legislature enters there last regular week of session before they go sine die.

Bosworth reported the recent movement of the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund Bills, which passed the House last week, almost unanimously, 106 Yeas - 4 Nays. These bills now move over to the Senate's Finance, Insurance & Consumer Protection Committee.

Fata reported on the MAC-opposed solar and wind siting legislation that saw a 1 a.m. vote on the House Floor last Friday morning. There were many last minute amendments to these bills that gives the illusion of locals keeping control but does the opposite.

Finally, Gibson gave an update on the juvenile justice bills that are awaiting votes on the House and Senate floors. She also gave an update on minimum staffing legislation that was voted out of the House Labor Committee, and heads to the Senate.

The shrinking legislative calendar and the maneuvering around state energy policy continue to dominate in the State Capitol, said MAC’s Podcast 83 team this week.

In their latest episode, host Stephan Currie and team members Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson repeatedly noted how uncertain the situation is in Lansing as the Democratic majorities in the Legislature rush to finish work before the expected

Fata and Bosworth reported that the MAC-opposed solar and

There has been “lots of closed-door negotiating,” Fata said,

In more certain news, Bosworth reported that the governor has signed long-sought legislation to create a mechanism to reimburse local governments for revenue losses tied to the expansion of the Personal Property Tax exemption.

Finally, Fata gave an update on the contentious topic of creating a statewide septic code, an idea opposed by dozens of counties. “It’s

As the Legislature prepares for what is expected to be an

Director of Governmental Affairs Deena Bosworth, sitting in for regular host Stephan Currie, leads Samantha Gibson and Madeline Fata of MAC through the hot topics in Lansing, including:

Control over who decides the location and details of solar and wind energy generating facilities remains a contentious issue at the Michigan State Capitol, MAC’s Podcast 83 team reported this week in their newest episode.

Madeline Fata, MAC’s point person on the legislation, was scheduled to testify against bills last week to transfer zoning powers to the Michigan Public Service Commission, but she didn’t get the chance, she told her podcast team members, due to the intense questioning of bill sponsors by committee members.

MAC has long opposed any infringement on local control, and the

Meanwhile, MAC’s Samantha Gibson reports, the MAC-supported

Looming over every issue, though, is the unsettled legislative calendar, with the Democratic majority still expected to adjourn the body in early November in order to bring into force state law on pension tax changes and the presidential primary on schedule in early 2024.