Over 400 business and community leaders from across Michigan had the opportunity to hear from great thinkers on January 31 including Andy Dillon, State of Michigan Treasurer; Robert Daddow, Oakland County Deputy Executive; John Nixon, new State Budget Director; and Governor Rick Snyder to talk about the state’s fiscal health.
There were A LOT of numbers and graphs to digest in one afternoon. All of the presentations are available on the Business Leaders for Michigan website in the left column. http://www.businessleadersformichigan.com/leadershipsummit/january-2011.
Bottom line…Michigan has some tough decisions to make, but we’re in it together. There is definitely a shared sense of commitment among top leadership to share information and ideas. The structural fiscal problem needs to be addressed first so we can move forward with other issues.
In February, legislation will be introduced to amend PA 72, the Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act. This is a start to giving local municipalities the tools they need to make financial adjustments to stay viable. It was clear that locals and the state will need to work together because balancing the state’s budget is going to take reductions to local units of government.
On February 17, Governor Snyder is going to release his proposed 2012 budget and right next to it will be his proposed 2013 budget. He is a big proponent of multiyear budgeting even though there are currently constitutional barriers to the legislature enacting both years. He believes ALL municipalities (and businesses) should enact multiyear budgeting.
You’ve probably heard about the newly released 2011 Citizen’s Guide to Michigan’s Financial Health – Dollars and Sense: How State and Local Governments in Michigan Spend your Money. This was produced in an effort to provide a breakdown of important budget information into a 20 page document from the 300 page Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). Business Leaders for Michigan went even further and turned the 20 page report into a 2 page scorecard format. The research groups involved in the process learned that breaking this information down into “business metrics” and comparing “apples to apples” was not easy. In response, they created a ‘plug and play’ tool for local governments and school districts to use that will mirror the same indicators as the state report right down to including the graphs.
Links -
Public Act 72 of 1990 – Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act:
2011 Citizen’s Guide to Michigan’s Financial Health:
http://www.businessleadersformichigan.com/files/2011_Guide_to_MI_Financial_Health.pdf
2011 Data source appendix:
http://www.businessleadersformichigan.com/files/2011_Guide_to_MI_Financial_Health_APPENDIX.pdf
Michigan Fiscal Scorecard:
http://www.businessleadersformichigan.com/files/BLM_Scorecard_print_version.pdf
Template tools for local municipalities and school districts:
http://www.businessleadersformichigan.com/files/Local_Citizen_Guide_Template.doc
http://www.businessleadersformichigan.com/files/Transparency_Tool_for_Local_Governments.xls
