I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
While it may have gone virtually unnoticed beyond the county’s borders earlier this month, Macomb County will have a new, streamlined government structure in place next year.
The county’s current 26-member board of commissioners will be cut in half and a county executive will be added as a result of the new charter approved by 60 percent of county voters on Nov. 3.
After the new charter was approved — set to take effect after the 2010 elections — the Detroit News editorialized favorably:
All of this should help the county overcome chronic budget shortfalls that can be attributed in part to the current diffuse governing structure, which encourages overspending.
But that conclusion doesn’t exactly jibe with the dramatic spending cuts to the county’s health department is being forced to make now — cuts that seem to have nothing to do with overspending but rather the misfortune of being too dependent on property tax revenue at a time when property values are in free fall.
Even so, the new government structure sounds like it will result in a leaner board of commissioners, as well as other cost-saving consolidations. It may also result in stronger leadership, courtesy of a strong executive.
The new charter does give the county some more taxing authority — elected commissioners can increase the tax levy from 4.56 mills to 5.19 mills provided voters approve the increase. That should help stabilize county finances down the road, but in the short term as the county faces more budget cuts, help will have to come from someplace else first.
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