It was another banner year for Lenawee county, officials say. But the distinction is not one they are likely to be proud of.

With years of crushing economic conditions, from record high unemployment to collapsing real estate markets and crushing debts, Michigan residents have been hammered in the cash flow department. That has resulted in record numbers of lender foreclosures and increased pressures on social services in the state. Now, it’s showing up in tax foreclosures.

The Adrian Daily Telegram reports that Lenawee county has begun proceedings to foreclose properties because of late property tax payments on a record 560 properties. The paper reports that in 2006, the number of tax foreclosure notices was 217. Last year it was 506 properties.

In 2009, 339 properties reached a show-cause hearing on foreclosure, the next to last step before the county gets a foreclosure order allowing it to seize the property and sell it recover property taxes. Last year, 395 properties made it to that point.

But some of those properties may be late on tax payments by no mistake of the homeowner.

Notices were questioned by several owners who appeared Monday, said Assistant Lenawee County Prosecutor Douglas Hartung. The owners said their mortgages have been transferred to different lending institutions and they believe taxes would have been paid if the proper banks were notified the mortgaged houses could be sold. Hartung said those questions are being reviewed.

This of course could easily tie into the ongoing mortgage crisis which helped fuel the economic collapse in the country two years ago.

Jackson said the government’s efforts to curb the foreclosure crisis are poorly enforced and limited. The federal Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan geared at loan modification for those facing foreclosure is “not broad enough” according to Jackson. “You cannot resolve this crisis house by house,” he said Thursday evening.

Jackson’s appearance attracted about 50 people to the rally, which took place outside of the home of Andre and Lenore Hudson, a couple who are facing foreclosure in the middle-class community of Sherwood Forest, near the city’s border with Oakland County. Many of the attendees were people from the neighborhood, reporters and members of the Moratorium Now Coalition, a grassroots group pushing for a two-year moratorium on home foreclosures in Michigan.

Jesse Jackson speaks about foreclosure crisis. (Photo by Minehaha Forman/Michigan Messenger)

Although Jackson called for mass action at the rally, turnout wasn’t the focus of the gathering according to Rev. David Bullock, who leads the Detroit Branch of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

“He wasn’t trying to get a whole lot of people,” Bullock told Michigan Messenger. “He wanted to get a human interest story out there.”

Bullock said Jackson used the rally as a way of letting the community know that he will be a “voice at the table” of negotiations between lenders and those affected by foreclosure.

“I don’t think corporate America should be painted as the enemy but to have a guy like Rev. Jackson at the table is big,” Bullock said. The Detroit branch of Rainbow PUSH has been meeting with Wells Fargo for six weeks to discuss community need according to Bullock. “Wells Fargo gets to hear what really is going on the ground and learn what the company needs to do and change.”

After nearly two months of meetings with Wells Fargo Bullock said it’s too early to say what influence the the Rainbow PUSH Coalition has had. “I don’t know what the progress is. I’m sure there is some.”

Lt. Noel Garcia says Lansing Chief Mark Alley has been talking with state officials about what will happen if the state shut down.

“Right now is not the time to speculate,” said Garcia. “There are no solid plans of us going over and assisting.”

Michigan Messenger reported earlier Wednesday that in the event of a government shut down, the Michigan State Police post located in the Capitol will shut down, leaving security burdens on other legislative staff.

One of the changes Bing discussed with the Free Press is the possibility of charging an entry fee to visit Belle Isle Park in order to generate some revenue. Many Detroiters and visitors go to Belle Isle daily to have picnics and barbecues or to visit the park’s attractions, which include the a tropical greenhouse Conservatory, a great lakes museum, the Detroit Yacht Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, and a golf course.

Bing told the Detroit Free Press that he thinks Belle Isle isn’t what it used to be. “You’ll constantly hear folks say Belle Isle is a gem,” Bing said, “and it was, and maybe it can be again, but I don’t think it is today.”

Detroit is facing a budget crisis with a 300 million projected deficit and bond ratings that are not investment grade. Before and after he was elected in May, Bing warned that the city could run out of cash this year.

A segment aired on NPR’s “All Things Considered” Monday evening used the Detroit area to exemplify the worst-case scenario of what could happen to struggling public defense systems nationwide. According to the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s evaluation of Michigan’s public defender system, the state ranks 44th in public defense spending.

The segment lasted approximately 20 minutes and highlighted drastic examples of how the underfunded system is making public defense more disastrous than helpful in some cases.

For instance, many public defenders have to pay out of pocket if they want to communicate with clients before the court date or use investigators to uncover evidence for a trail. There are no funds allotted for long distance calls or jail visits between indigent defense attorneys and clients. And because public defenders are paid so little per case, some take as many as 100 cases at once, which makes the fair and competent representation mandated by the constitution seem like a distant pipe dream.

Many clients, NPR’s Ailsa Chang reports, are asked to plead guilty from the start regardless of the situation so that defenders won’t have to spend extra time and money on a trail.

In April, Michigan Messenger reported on the state of the Detroit public defense system by profiling Walter Swift, a man who fell victim to the flawed system when he was convicted of a rape he didn’t commit and waited 26 years in prison before he was exonerated.

Detroit’s new chief financial officer Joe Harris announced Tuesday that the city of Detroit’s $100 million debt is just an optimistic estimate.

Earlier this year, City Council members discussed plugging the deficit (which, at the time, was set at $20 million) with $78 million in deficit bonds. But Harris said due to the financial instability of the national finance markets he no longer sees bonds as a way out.

The current administration does not see city layoffs as the answer, either. Unlike former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who had said he was willing to cut 2,000 jobs to balance the budget, new interim mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said he thinks layoffs should be a last resort if they are made at all.

So now the $100 million question is how exactly will the city close the gap? Well, that is what Harris is being paid to figure out. But if this is the best-case scenario and the debt is “just” $100 million, that compares nicely with Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the nation, which is more than $400 million in the red.

While $100 million is not a terrible amount, city officials are still going to have to find creative ways to bail themselves out in the midst of national financial upheaval.