Local governments unsure whether they will receive state revenue sharing incentives
City and county officials are still unsure how Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed state revenue-sharing incentives will affect them down the road.
Snyder revealed last month that local governments will be able to compete for $200 million in incentive money under the plan. Isabella County Administrator Tim Dolehanty said whether the county and city of Mount Pleasant will be eligible for the incentive money remains uncertain at this point.
The county has already consolidated and cut services in many places, he said.
“This plan is something doable, but nothing that would have immediate impact,” Dolehanty said.
Dolehanty said he is concerned whether the county’s consolidations and cuts will qualify it for the incentive money if they have already been enacted.
This incentive money would result from a plan which encourages local governments to create transparency in financing, adopt best practices and employee benefits and prove they have consolidated service provisions.
“This would cut statutory state-shared revenue first by two-thirds, but reserve a third of that for local governments to compete for it,” said Mount Pleasant City Manager Kathie Grinzinger. “The other third is reserved or kept to assist the state in balancing its deficit.”
Grinzinger said legislation still has to sort out details of the plan.
She said local governments will create dashboards by Oct. 1. The dashboards will show a measure of both local governments’ performance and financial statements.
“We have had a long history of collaboration and consolidation for a number of years,” Grinzinger said.
Union Township Supervisor John Barker said the township would not likely be eligible for the incentive money because it operates with constitutional revenue sharing.
"The whole program, in my mind, is a farce," he said. "We’ve got all these great things going on in our community, but we don’t get to take advantage of the incentive money."
Barker said the money will only affect a small number of townships in the state.
Local governments must create a plan to consolidate their services or notify the state of service-sharing measures they have taken by Jan. 1, 2012.
Grinzinger said Mount Pleasant already teams up with the county, township and other local governments to cut costs and consolidate services.
She said the City Commission will have to weigh in on whether there will be more cost-cutting measures taken.
“No one knows if you get to count things you’ve already done,” Grinzinger said. “We’re not even sure if we’re competing against each other.”
