Could the State Eliminate Townships to Save Money?
By Diana Fairbanks
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 2:09 p.m.
Read more: Local, State, Economy, Politics, Election, Fact Finder, Townships, State Government, Diana Fairbanks, Fact Finder
There are many ideas floating around to help the state save money: some good, some bad. But it seems no idea is completely off of the table.
A viewer heard rumor of one plan that would change the fundamental structure of state government. She asked can the state eliminate townships as a way to save money.
What we found for her is the subject of tonight's Fact Finder Report.
Before Michigan was even a state, it had townships.
The federal government used them as a way to survey the territory so the land could be sold to settlers: a grid pattern of six square mile parcels. The township's center was near enough for farmers to travel for their regular business and children to attend school.
But over the years, while their political boundaries stayed the same, their political purpose shifted.
Grand Traverse County Planning Director John Sych says, "over the last 100 years powers were granted to townships to do more and more providing government services and organization until the 1960's when the constitution was revisited and there were specific powers granted to townships to operate as local units."
There are 1,240 townships in Michigan: some sparsely populated with only part time employees, others larger than some cities. State law requires and allows townships to perform a wide variety of tasks, from administering elections to collecting taxes and more.
Long Lake Township Supervisor Karen Rosa says, "I don't think people really understand unless their a part of this how much a difference we can make and how important this office is whether its to pay taxes, planning area, master plan for our township, what we want to look like in the future."
Those services are funded through required revenue sharing with the state.
Rosa says, "There is a statute that they will do revenue sharing. It's based on population and sales tax and as that goes down the revenue we get will probably be less."
While townships are bracing for cuts in revenue sharing this year, some say the state could save even more money if it didn't have to fund townships at all, letting other levels of government oversee those tasks, tasks that in many cases are also being performed at the county level.
Sych says, "There are certain services that could be consolidated, that could be done in a cooperative manor, but that doesn't always guarantee more efficient government. You're still required to provide all of these services to the community regardless of the configuration of government."
And according to the spokesperson for the Michigan Township Association, that's the conclusion state lawmakers came to last time this idea was brought up. He says the numbers just didn't add up to big cost savings for the state.
And there's also the fact that state law requires townships to exist and doing away with them could take the state into some tricky legal territory.
Sych says, "It would require an adjustment to our state constitution."
So while the state may not be planning to eliminate townships right now, townships may look as different 100 years from now as they did 100 years ago.
Rosa says, "There probably will be some changes along the way, I don't know what those will be right now."
Sych, "the challenge is how you operate as a township in this day and age when there really is a need to think more regionally and collaborate with other local units of government."
So to answer our viewer's questions, no the state is not going to do away with townships this year. But there will be cuts to revenue sharing and everyone I talked with believes there will be changes to how local governments operate in the future. What do you think? How can governments work more efficiently? Share your ideas below.
