LANSING – Michigan’s lowest-funded cities, townships, villages, counties, and school districts would share $500 million in American Rescue Plan and infrastructure money under a plan announced by a pair of House Democrats Tuesday.
Under the Raise Up Local Grant Match from Rep. Julie Brixie (D-Meridian Township) and Rep. Amos O’Neal (D-Saginaw) , introduced as HB 5583 and HB 5584, 54 out of 83 counties (65 percent), 224 out of 280 cities (80 percent), 223 out of 253 villages (88 percent), and 727 out of 1,240 townships (59 percent) qualify.
“We had this idea last session and we began working it up,” Brixie said. “It’s really coming out of a place of my time in local government and frustration with unfunded mandates that the state would put on local governments and reliance on property tax on revenue for essential services.”
Brixie, who was on the Meridian Township Board since 2000 before being elected to the state House, saw that revenue sharing did not address the needs her community had.
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