Economic Development Task Force, EITC, Pollution Prevention, Budget 2011, House Race

This week was exciting, as we had a some controversial resolutions at our Board meeting.

First, we considered a resolution that I authored with Commissioner Brian McGrain that would create a Task Force to study the idea of an economic development millage. The idea of the resolution is to look at the positives and negatives of PA 88. The task force will be made up of commissioners, business groups, taxpayer groups, and anyone else who is interested. I hope we can discuss the pro's and con's of having a fund specifically targeted to assisting in small business and entrepreneurial job creation. I look forward to hearing what the businesses of the county have to say, and to hearing what people are willing to pay (if anything). There are no predetermined outcomes of this task force, and we will see what the parties recommend. All Commissioners supported this except Commissioners Schafer, Dragonetti, and Vickers. They indicated that all task forces result in something so they are opposed to discussing it. I, of course, disagree with that and think discussion of issues like this are vital to assist the county in things helping entrepreneurs to create jobs...but we can agree to disagree and still stay civil.

The second controversial resolution was calling on the Legislature to oppose cutting the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Several Commissioners indicated that cutting the EITC would be a tax on low-income workers who can now receive the benefit of this credit. The Republicans indicated that they didn't think it is appropriate for the County to weigh in on state issues. I pointed out that eliminating the EITC could result in low-income residents of Ingham County in needing more services from our Health Department. That, combined with the revenue sharing cuts we are expecting and the declining tax collections, will cause big problems for the County so we have every reason to weigh in. The resolution passed 12-4 on party lines.

Finally, we again considered the Pollution Prevention (P2) resolution. This resolution, as lyoal readers of the Schor Blog found out last week, would require that businesses in possession of certain amounts of dangerous chemicals on site have to create certain plans and provide them to the county. This would, in essence, codify current county policy and would add a fee to it. We don't charge a fee now, and the taxpayers pick up the entire cost of the program. In public testimony, we had several first responderd (police and fire) testify in support of the resolution. They said that they need these plans for if there is a fire and they have to run into a building. They need to know where the chemicals are and what the dangers are of exploding. Other groups, like the Michigan Environmental Council, also weighed in as supportive. The business community opposed the resolution. Demmer Corporation and Granger and the Michigan Manufacturers and others testified that there are problems with the regulation and that they didn't want to pay the fees.

As you may recall, I voted against this in the Finance Committee. Regarding the fee, I have indicated that I believe that the taxpayers should not have to foot the whole bill for this program, especially with a $5.3 million deficit coming to the county for 2011. But, I thought that 75% in the first year was just too much at one time. On the Board floor, Commissioner Victor Celentino proposed and I supported an amendment that would reduce the fees from 75% to 50% to the businesses (and 50% to the taxpayers). When that passed, several of us were more comfortable with the fee and it passed 13-3. We then considered the regulation. Commissioner Todd Tennis, the Human Services Chair, offered several amendments to satisfy the concerns of the business community that were raised in public comment. Commissioner Tennis also indicated that he would review the regulation in a few months. I offered up an amendment to require the affected businesses be notified electronically in advance when that hearing happens. When that passed, I expressed that I would support the regulation. I am not sure it is perfect, but it is a lot better than it was last year and we will have a required review to ensure we can work out any problems that are raised. After having this come up twice and having new issues brought up at the last minute each time, I decided that it is now time to start this program in order to collect the 50% fees for the 2010 budget (which is less than budgeted).

Oh, and as an aside, I was on the radio talking about this regulation yesterday and one of the Republican Commissioners indicated that it is a tax. I am not sure why they are saying that, as it is false. This is clearly a fee, as it is only assessed on those that use the program (those that have the chemicals) and the money collected is not being used for anything other than this program (which only covers 50% of the cost). I understand that the businesses don't want to pay this fee, but I honestly believe that the taxpayers can no longer afford to subsidize this 100%. And I am disappointed that this is resolution is being mis-characterized as a tax when that is clearly not true. The final resolution passed with 12 of the 13 Democrats supporting it (the 13th abstained because her business is affected by the regulation) and one of the three Republicans supporting it. I would like to thank Commissioner Todd Tennis for all the work he did on this with the outstanding Health Department staff this year, and Commissioner Brian McGrain for all the time and hard work he put into this last year. I also would like to thank Commissioner Randy Schafer for going against his political party and staying consistent in his continual support of first responders and voting in support of this regulation.

This week, the County Commissioners also heard from our staff about some of the budget challenges coming for the 2011 budget. This blog is long enough already, though, so I will report on that another week.

And don't forget, my exploratory committee for the State House of Representatives! Please go to facebook and click on “like” for the page at www.facebook.com/andyschor, and go to the website to read my letter and provide information if you want to volunteer. Soon, the webpage will be updated and there will be fundraiser information and information about supporters. The effort is going really well!

911 Intergovernmental Agreement, 2011 Budget, and Economic Development Through Smartzone

This week, I had three different important county meetings. On Tuesday, the Board of Commissioners met. As I have said before, most of our tough work is done in committee. The Board meeting approved several resolutions, but not much controversial. One important resolution that passed (and not reported on here previously) was an intergovernmental agreement between Ingham, Eaton, Clinton and Livingston counties. This agreement will allow the four counties to combine in purchasing and maintaining new phone technology for the 911 centers in mid-Michigan and to develop virtual backup capabilities. All four counties need to upgrade their 911 phone systems in order to take advantage of internet protocol technology, and all four need to develop emergency backup E-9-1-1 capabilities in the event of primary system failure. Signing this agreement and approving the bylaws allows us to work collaboratively in order to reduce costs and provide for inter-connectivity between counties. It also allows each county to forgo the capital costs of building a physical E-9-1-1 backup center in each county. I had some questions about the makeup of the agreement and bylaws – specifically how decisions are made and how the funding is done – but county staff assured me that the decisions and funding will be done in a fair and equitable way. This agreement will be a good regional tool for savings and efficiency, and I am happy that we passed it unanimously.

The County Services committee held the first of the budget meetings. First it needs to be said that our staff – especially Mary Lannoye (controller) and Teri Morton (budget director) – was able to greatly minimize the impacts of the budget deficit and they need to be greatly commended by the employees and the citizens of Ingham County.

The budget books were handed out on Tuesday, so this there was not much time to read through the extensive budget before committee on Wednesday…but Commissioners and department heads were able to effectively parse and understand the proposals. Every department was happy with their budget allocations in the County Services committee. Not one department head objected to their recommended budget (which is rare). Commissioners did have some questions for some of the department heads, though. I asked our Parks director several questions about the line items in the budget, and he gave good answers. Parks are truly doing a lot more with very little money. I also had issues with our funding of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission. This is an entity that Eaton, Clinton and Ingham counties all belong to, and it handles land use issues for the region. While I have no problem with their work or staff, I did have a problem with the fact that we are giving them the same $102,000 that we gave them last year. I inquired why we should cut all our departments yet give tri-county the same allocation, and they said that cuts would be matched by other entities and would result in lost matching funds from the federal government. Some money we provide goes to administration, but the bulk of the money goes to services that receive an 80% match, so cutting would lose federal funding. Most Commissioners were satisfied with that answer, but I still believe that we shouldn’t be cutting our own departments yet leaving the regional entities whole. As such, I voted against that one appropriation (I was the only no vote on that part of the budget). The rest of the County Services items passed unanimously. The other committees – Human Services, Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Finance – will be holding budget hearings over the next three weeks or so.

In addition to serving on official county committees, I also represent Ingham County on the Local Development Financing Authority (also known as the Smartzone). This Authority oversees economic development activities that are a result of dollars that are captured for these purposes. We heard reports from East Lansing staff on the Technology Innovation Center (TIC), which has about 14 entrepreneurial businesses in it (mostly professor or student-run businesses who receive low-cost rent to get their idea off the ground). I am encouraged by the products that we are helping to get to market and the many people who are creating jobs through innovation that we can assist. I was not thrilled, though, that several of the businesses are looking at moving out of town after their lease with the TIC is up. East Lansing staff is trying to assist these entrepreneurs to stay in the East Lansing/Lansing area, but other areas are offering venture capital and appropriate space (i.e. hundreds of square feet of wet lab space) and other incentives that we cannot offer. I hope to bring forth a proposal to rectify that situation…but that is in development and will be reported on in a future County Blog. We also heard from the Lansing Economic Development Corporation staff about the University Research Corridor and the Knapps building project. I am very encouraged by the Knapps project. We did not receive a $2 million grant due to technical problems, but we hope to re-apply for that and get the money. In the meantime, it seems that the developers are still working to get all the appropriate financing and start the reconstruction. Severeal local, state and federal incentives will be used. The goal is to have residential space, incubator space, and retail in the building. It would be a great boon for downtown Lansing, and I am hoping that this can move forward as soon as possible. I have great faith in the Lansing Economic Development Corporation, and I think this will be yet another example of Lansing rebuilding its downtown and drawing young and talented workers and residents back to our city.

That’s it for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!