By Mary Drier
Staff Writer
MICHIGAN — The state cut funding to municipalities and departments, and is now also asking for reductions on lease costs.
“Our state revenue sharing is set to be cut by 24 percent – while it’s not the 34 percent that was talked about – it’s still a (difficult) revenue reduction to deal with,” said Tuscola County Controller Mike Hoagland, noting especially with other revenue losses on the horizon.
Michigan Association of Counties did a breakdown of what that reduction means for each county. Instead of getting $111,127 in revenue sharing, Huron County will receive $84,212. Instead of $916,181, Sanilac County will receive $694,282 and instead of getting $1,097,393, Tuscola County will receive $831,603.
Overall, the state will pay counties $115 million instead of $151,755,125.
Plus, lawmakers are looking at counties picking up more costs.
The 60 percent cost to counties to the state’s 40 percent of funding courts is an area of contention with some counties passing resolutions for the state to change that.
In Tuscola County, the split is more like 61 percent county to 39 percent state, with the county paying $554,016 of operating the state’s court system in the county.
That is one example of an “unfunded mandate” that the state burdens counties with, said Hoagland.
And, the state is talking about eliminating business personal property tax. Between the projected $265,790 in state revenue sharing and if the property tax cuts are done, the county would lose approximately $750,000 in revenue.
In addition, the state’s proposed change in business property tax could eliminate the revenue from wind development.
“(The revenue) from wind energy development would be like having our own casinos… now the state wants to get its hooks into that too,” noted Commissioner Tom Kern.
Compounding the problem is decreased property values which will generate about $150,000 less in property tax.
Besides cuts to county funding, the state cut funding to several of its departments. Instead of cutting the Tuscola County Health Department Emergency Preparedness budget five percent as originally stated, the cut is now almost 16 percent. With $120,000 less funding for that service, it will go from full-time to part-time staffing. And, instead of a five percent cut for Essential Local Public Health Services, the cut was 10 percent.
“We are still awaiting notification of the other proposed cuts to Family Planning, WIC (Women, Infant and Children) program, Tobacco, and Breast and Cervical,” said the health department’s Director, Gretchen Tenbusch.
The state is also now asking for concessions on its debts because it is “facing severe budget problems” because of the slumping economy and falling revenues.
“One major expense is leasing facilities,” according to Tony Sump with the state’s real estate division. “We are seeking voluntary reductions in our lease costs of at least 10 percent.”
Although Sump’s letter said the state was prepared to discuss and negotiate the issue, it also said that, “We cannot guarantee that we will remain in every location but we will work with those who help us, but cancel leases that are not cost-effective.”
A response is desired before Aug. 16.
Hoagland and commissioners said they have consistently worked with the state on concessions. The county recently approved paying for lawn mowing and maintenance at the state police post, and incurred significant cost in remodeling the Department of Human Services building to state specifications last year.