The Detroit News. January 30, 2018
Make a realistic tax adjustment
Federal tax reform has brought with it an opportunity for Michigan residents to get a tax cut, but it’s no sure thing and a fiscal drama is now playing out in Lansing. More money in the pockets of taxpayers is good for Michigan, but lawmakers must be wary of slashing revenues without equal cuts to the state’s budget.
State lawmakers have been working to address a problem that arose when the new federal tax law zeroed out personal exemptions in exchange for a higher standard deduction. The federal switch is meant to benefit most taxpayers and make the tax filing process easier.
But since Michigan’s tax code has been tied to the number of federal personal exemptions filed, the state needs to change the code to make up for the loss of personal exemptions, or else residents will lose $1.5 billion per year.
It’s a necessary fix, otherwise the federal reform will result in a tax hike for Michigan residents.
The Legislature, however, sees this as its rare opportunity to give taxpayers an even bigger cut. Last week the House approved a nearly $360 million tax cut plan that expands the state’s personal exemption for all filers by $500 by 2020. That chamber also added a new $100 tax credit for seniors.
The tax cuts were passed overwhelmingly in the GOP-controlled House in a 105-1 vote.
The Senate also approved a separate tax cut plan that would raise the exemption even more - to $5,000 by 2021, with an increase after that.
The Senate Fiscal Agency estimates that tax cut would decrease state revenues by $206 million per year starting in fiscal year 2022. It would decrease revenue by smaller amounts leading up to that.
Gov. Rick Snyder has supported a more modest cut to account for other impacts of tax reform, increasing the exemption from $4,300 to $4,500 by 2021. He’s cautioned lawmakers against making the cuts too big, arguing the fiscally sound course the state has been on will be for naught if it ends up with a deficit by the end of this decade.
That’s hard to argue with, particularly as the state’s most pressing challenges require significant revenue. Road and infrastructure funding, talent development and local government investment are all critical.
The governor called for significant increases in per-pupil K-12 student funding in last week’s State of the State address. He’s also going to seek another $175 million in road funding next year, in addition to $150 million in general fund revenue that must be dedicated according to a 2015 law.
Unless the Legislature is ready to make significant cuts to the state’s budget and cut programs, it should reconsider its zeal for tax cuts that don’t have matched savings elsewhere.
If lawmakers send Snyder legislation that goes too far in its tax slashing, the governor should veto it and work with the Legislature on a compromise.
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Traverse City Record-Eagle. February 1, 2018
When green energy meets that red tape
The phrase ’buy local’ typically refers to food or merchandise, but it also can apply to electricity.
It makes sense for a local utility like Traverse City Light & Power to purchase electricity from sources close to home.
Michigan’s power grid does an admirable job of transporting electricity throughout the state.
But that portability comes with a price. Electricity is lost as it travels through long-distance lines. Sometimes you can hear the loss in the form of crackling sounds. It takes energy to move electricity over distance, and those losses can add up to considerable waste.
Generating power close to where it is consumed can minimize transmission losses.
Michigan averaged about 6.5 percent loss in transmission and distribution between 1990 and 2013, according to Energy Information Administration data compiled by collaborative journalism initiative Inside Energy. That’s about the middle of the pack when compared to other states.
Average transmission and distribution losses during that period ranged from just 2.2 percent in Wyoming to a whopping 13.3 percent in Idaho. Losses tend to be greater in low-voltage lines that connect to end users, lower along high-voltage lines used to span great distances. But distance definitely figures into the equation.
There’s less opportunity for loss when the point of generation is close to the point of consumption. It makes sense for TCL&P to try to buy local.
So it’s a bit disconcerting that Elmwood Township’s updated zoning ordinances - which took effect in September - tossed a roadblock in the path of Heritage Sustainable Energy’s plan to expand its solar array in the shadow of the iconic wind generator atop the M-72 hill west of Greilickville.
Heritage assembled a 1-megawatt solar array near the corner of M-72 and Bugai Road in September and October. Heritage CEO Marty Lagina said last week that the company always planned to expand the solar array.
But the township’s new zoning ordinances won’t allow it, at least not without an added layer of red tape.
The old ordinances considered the project’s first phase an essential service. But the new ordinance - a rewrite in the works prior to Heritage’s project - doesn’t classify commercial solar the same way. It’s a change township officials said they intend to revisit in February.
Electricity is an essential service. It’s difficult to imagine modern life without power.
Zoning ordinances, like most aspects of government, are complicated beasts. It is unclear if the authors of Elmwood’s new zoning regulations intended to make it more difficult to build utility-scale solar arrays in the township, or if that happened as an unintended consequence. Whatever the intent, the result is that Heritage has more red tape to cut.
TCL&P agreed to buy output from the original solar array, the one built four months ago, to help the city reach its goal of powering all municipal operations with green energy by 2020. Lagina and Heritage still hope to supply more of the city’s green power. They still hope to expand the solar array.
But TCL&P board members could vote this month on contracts with competing green power producers, all located much farther from Traverse City.
It likely will be months before Heritage can slice through the red tape created by Elmwood’s new zoning ordinances.
Traverse City’s electric utility must decide soon where it will buy the power it wants to use to bolster its green portfolio.
Buying local certainly has advantages, including the fact that it minimizes efficiency loss caused by transmission loss.
It would be a shame to let red tape get in the way of green energy.
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Times Herald (Port Huron). January 31, 2018
Snyder’s proposed trash fee hike is overdue
A decade ago, Michigan Republicans managed to stop a plan passed by Democrats in the state House to raise landfill dumping fees.
The Democrats were motivated by the endless stream of Canadian trash trucks overturning and catching fire on freeway medians in southeast Michigan. In the Port Huron area, people set up office pools betting on when the next one would flip after its driver fell asleep while hauling Toronto’s kitchen scraps to a Michigan landfill.
Homeowners near Lenox Township’s Pine Tree Acres garbage dump put up special traffic signs to limit the damage caused by bumper-to-bumper Canadian trash haulers.
Toronto, Ontario, and some of our neighboring United States chose Michigan dumps because they were cheap.
In a 2011 accounting, Michigan’s tax on garbage was 21 cents per ton. Indiana wasn’t far behind, at 50 cents, but was too far from Canada. Illinois charged $2.22 per ton; Iowa, $4.50; Wisconsin, $13; Ohio, $4; and Pennsylvania $7.50.
Michigan Democrats wanted to match Pennsylvania with a $7.50 per ton fee. The GOP put a stop to what then-state Rep. Phil Pavlov called a bill “recklessly approved along county lines and under the veil of night.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Snyder proposed raising the state’s landfill dumping fee from the current 36 cents per ton to $4.75. The tax - yes, it is a tax - would generate $79 million a year and would for environmental initiatives. It would be used to clean up contaminated sites, help local governments better manage solid waste, improve Michigan’s dismal recycling rate, pay for water quality monitoring and help fix up our state parks.
And while everyone in the Blue Water Area who hauls a refuse container to the curb once a week would be paying the new tax, we would not be alone.
A quarter of the waste dumped in Michigan during 2017 came from somewhere else. If Snyder’s tax increase is approved, it would be paid by people living in Canada, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin and other. They send almost 12 million cubic yards of garbage to Michigan in 2017.
Higher - we call them more reasonable - dumping fees might turn that flow around. Canada sent more than 10.5 million cubic yards our way.
Overall, trashed dumped in Michigan increased 3.1 percent in 2017. Most of the increase came from garbage trucked in by our neighbors - an 11 percent increase.
Snyder’s proposal would cost an average Michigan household about $30 a year - assuming trash haulers and landfill don’t pile on their own fee increases. Most families would agree that environmental improvements plus safer highways would be worth it.
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Lansing State Journal. February 1, 2018
LSJ watchdog reporters are looking out for you
Watchdog reporters are the lifeblood of a news organization, covering everything from elected officials and campaigns to the operations of government and public entities like CATA and MSU.
Know that watchdogs reporters are looking out for you. Their work is focused on promoting transparency in public organizations, which helps build a stronger community.
LSJ has four reporters whose key role includes holding public organization’s accountable, although any of the 17 reporters and columnists might write such articles as opportunities arise.
Some recent examples:
MSU hid full conclusions of 2014 Larry Nassar report from victim (January 2018)
An attorney is investigated for concerns over work as a guardian to elderly (October 2017)
A look at police and firefighters’ overtime and impacts on city debt (August 2017)
Michigan child welfare workers may have manipulated records to meet caseload requirements (May 2017)
1,758 Ingham County cases had missing or mislabeled evidence (March 2017)
12 stories uncovered by the LSJ in 2017
LSJ watchdog reporters:
Justin Hinkley, state government accountability reporter, @JustinHinkley
Sarah Lehr, local government accountability reporter, @SarahGLehr
Beth LeBlanc, enterprise reporter, @LSJBethLeBlanc
Matt Mencarini, justice reporter, @MattMencarini
#LSJmeets event Feb. 6
If you would like to meet these reporters who look out for Greater Lansing, look no further than the next event in our #LSJmeets series - Watchdogs watch ’The Post’ on Feb. 6, at NCG Cinemas in Eastwood Towne Center. The event begins at 6:00 p.m.
#LSJmeets: Watchdogs watch ’The Post’
Meet the LSJ watchdog reporters - and engage in discussion about the work they do every day in Greater Lansing - on Tuesday, Feb. 6. for the latest in our #LSJmeets series: Watchdogs watch ’The Post’ - the first 100 LSJ Insiders to arrive with coupon in hand will receive free entry. All others pay $5. Get more information at LSJ.com/Insider.
The watchdog role of journalism is vital to a healthy community.
Show your support by showing up, sharing your questions and following the work of the LSJ watchdog reporters while they are looking out for you.
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