Paw Paw Village Manager Larry Nielson is drawing attention to an issue that affects local governments across the state. He tells WSJM News state revenue sharing payments to municipalities have been inadequate for more than a decade.
“In 2002-2003, the state budget was taking some hits and so they decided to freeze all of our payments,” Nielson said.
Nielson tells us local governments were promised a certain amount back each year from the state in the form of revenue sharing in exchange for certain tax concessions on their part. Since the payments were frozen, there’s been little attention paid to the issue in Lansing.
“With term limits, there isn’t anybody in the legislature, House or Senate, that was there when the promises were being made over the years,” Nielson said.
Nielson tells us Paw Paw, for example, has been shorted about $1.5 million in revenue sharing since 2002. The Michigan Municipal League has set up a website where you can search for your town to see what it would have received during that time. You can find the league’s search engine right here.
