MACKINAC ISLAND – Lt. Governor Brian Calley joined some House Democrats, business groups and local officials calling for the approval of Proposal 1, the proposal that would reimburse local communities the revenues lost form the personal property tax repeal.

During a press conference at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference, Calley said the state has been held back by far too long by an “archaic” tax system.

“When you change the tax system there is the other side of the equation,” he said. “Some of our local government relied very heavily on personal property tax revenue and so we had worked over the course of the last several years to construct a proposal that would make Michigan more competitive, particularly with our Midwest competitors.”

Rep. Andy Schor (D-Lansing), who used to work on the issue with the Michigan Municipal League, said he doesn’t always agree with Calley on issues, but this one is very important for both local municipalities and businesses.

“Let’s take a minute to look at the picture in front of us,” Schor said. “We’ve got Democrats and Republicans working together to help businesses and local communities. It’s pretty impressive. Seeing this legislation and now this ballot initiative moving forward, it really has been something I’ve worked on for a very long time.”

Schor said local communities do not like the tax, but relied heavily on it for revenue.

Romulus Mayor LeRoy Burcroff said there are many areas around Detroit Metro Airport that need to be developed both commercially and residentially, though the city gets 20 percent of its revenue from PPT.

He said with the tax repealed, the city can work to get businesses into those commercial areas that will then attract residents. And with the ballot proposal, the city will remain whole.

The issue also came up during a panel discussing moving the state forward. Kelly Rossman-McKinney, CEO of Truscott Rossman, said one of the last pieces of the puzzle in the state’s continued comeback is passing the ballot proposal in August.

“It’s the one thing we are not leading the way on yet, but we have the opportunity,” she said.

MOVING MICHIGAN FORWARD: The panel also included Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson; Hank Cooney, CEO of Plunkett Cooney and chair of the conference; and Sam Cummings, managing partner of CWD Real Estate Investment.

Cooney praised the changes to the Michigan tax code. He said from a tax perspective, the state has become one of the best areas for entrepreneurs.

He also spoke about Detroit, saying the grittiness of the city is attractive to young people, and the low cost of living is popular for young people moving to the city.

“Millennials are not as interested in owning a car and driving a car,” he said. “So you’ve got the M-1 rail … those kinds of investments will bring people and the kind of people we need to move there.”

Cooney did say a challenge moving forward will be those young people having families. He said when people begin to raise their families, they want good schools, and that will be a challenge in the city.

Patterson discussed Oakland County and its rebounding economy. He said in 2009, with the auto industry struggling, the county lost 60,000 jobs.

He said the county has four-fifths of those jobs back now, comparing it to a city like Grand Rapids where there is heavy philanthropic support, for example, from the DeVos family.

“We don’t have any angels,” he said. “Those who made a fortune in car companies … they don’t hang around.”

Looking to the future, Rossman-McKinney said the state needs to get to a population of 11 million.

“We need to (bring) our population back,” she said. “We need a couple congressional seats back.”

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