Heise, Colbeck Discuss Best Practices with Northville, Plymouth Officials

The joint fire agreement between Northville and Plymouth might equal extra revenue for the two cities, according to two legislators.

State Sen. Patrick Colbeck and Rep. Kurt Heise joined the Plymouth City Commission and Northville City Council on Monday night for a joint meeting at , where they discussed a variety of statewide issue affecting municipalities with the local leaders.

Heise and Colbeck lauded Gov. Rick Snyder’s Economic Vitality Incentive Program, which replaces the statutory revenue sharing, which the governor eliminated in his proposed budget earlier this year.

The program rewards communities for meeting state-prescribed best practices in accountability and transparency, service consolidation and employee compensation cost controls, according to a news release by Snyder’s office earlier this year.

Colbeck said Plymouth could qualify for an additional $105,000 and Northville could receive $56,000 for their recently merged fire services.

Heise said the cities’ , which take effect Jan. 1, is a logical choice for the incentives.

The two also discussed Michigan’s personal property tax, which is a tax on a business' equipment.

Heise said the tax is a “job-killer” that discourages companies from investing in new equipment.

This tax provides about $100,000 for Northville and $250,000 for Plymouth.

Heise said cities and legislators would have to look at additional sources of revenue to compensate for those lost funds.

The legislators also talked about eliminating judge appointments to save costs.

Heise said there are too many judges with too few caseloads in Michigan.

He said the State Court Administrative Office made recommendations to consolidated and downsize.

Heise said he’d also like to see pay cuts for judges until the state gets through the current economic conditions.

 “It’s not so much about the money at the state level,” he said, “it is more about efficiency and best practices.”

Heise said a series of bills will be introduced in the coming weeks about encouraging court consolidation and improving efficiency.

This, he said, would be in line with other forms of state government.

He said the , which serves Plymouth, Northville and Canton, is a good model for other regions to follow.