Overview of Northern Counties Meeting
Northern Michigan Counties Association
Meeting held Monday, Feb. 2
Roscommon County Building, Commissioners’ Meeting Room
Report by:
Commissioner Alan Campbell, Member
District No. 5, Leelanau County
Given the length of my initial report of the meeting, please bear with me as I provide short updates on other discussions:
• I walked away from the meeting with an overriding thought: Leelanau County — and its townships and villages — does not take advantage of the many grants available. One county whose commissioner was present worked with its other municipalities to fund a full-time grant writer by having each local government dedicate $1 per resident toward the position. The county and each township, village, and city participated. The position was then housed within an already established nonprofit. Might such a program work in Leelanau County? It’s worth a look.
• Jimmy Johnson, governmental affairs specialist for the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC), offered a first-hand example of dysfunction in the state Legislature. As the days wound down at the end of the last session, he had his eyes on a bill that needed to be passed to distribute federal Medicare dollars to counties. It is usually passed routinely earlier in the session, with all but a handful — up to three, as he recalled — legislators in opposition.
With 12 hours remaining in the 2025 legislative session, he went to work, talking with every senator or senator’s office. The bill did pass, but not without a wake-up call and pressure applied by MAC. The organization is in our corner even when we’re not paying attention.
• All that funding for local roads promised by the state through a 24% excise tax on marijuana? Don’t count on it. The industry has the tax tied up in court.
“Their argument is that their margins are low and this will kill the industry. This could be a very long lawsuit. For the road commissions, the question remains, ‘When will they get the money?’” Johnson reported.
• Back to the state Legislature: Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall has made providing tax relief for property owners his priority. Part of that priority is to placate the “Ax My Tax” advocates who are seeking to ban property taxes in Michigan. However, the road to providing tax relief is guarded by the tax structure written into the state Constitution. Stay tuned.
• I love this quote from Bob Baldwin, a five-year commissioner from Kalkaska County who recently joined our group: “We cannot, as commissioners, agree to the notion that one size fits all counties in a state like Michigan.”
