Blog & Whitepapers

The digital age has made an abundance of data available to “consumers” but it begs the question, “What information does it provide us?” I recently sat through a presentation on Traffic Crash Results for a local government. As part of the presentation, there was a comparison of two neighboring communities, one with 22,600 crashes and the other with 22,100 (data). I didn’t know if the lower number was better, or not.

There is no shortage of articles and white papers addressing the topic of “Local Government Early Warning Indicators.” However, very few offer a concise methodology to address the issue; and most don’t draw any meaningful recommendations to address the dynamics local governments face in today’s new normal.

In Michigan, the ill fated revenue sharing initiative known as the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP), a “Carrot and a stick” approach to passing down state revenue sharing dollars to local units of government is dead – – or is it?

We commend those who are willing to serve their public institutions, because being an elected official is sure fraught with it challenges. As Mayor Pro-Tem for the City of Auburn Hills, Michigan, I see it first-hand. Why? Because making tough choices is often not very popular. But if decisions are made for the right reasons, using the appropriate data and analysis, it is the job of the policymakers, as fiduciaries for their communities, to do what is in the best interest of the city (or school or library or ??), always with respect to the health, safety and welfare of its citizens.

Just when you thought it was safe to come outside… So now that the winter is over and many local units are planning to spend precious resources on fixing roads, the realities of basic economic principles are going to come into play and cost us even more. There are only so many road contractors and asphalt plants—and the abundance of major road projects are going to put a damper on unplanned but direly needed repairs.

Munetrix has transformed itself from a transparency data-warehouse to a comprehensive Software-as-a-Service Platform in 2013. We have launched a host of new features available to all users with level 3 access. BudgetBuilder The BudgetBuilder tool is designed to provide a quick method of creating a top-down budget or forecast for multi-year budgeting. Users can quickly test a variety of revenue, cost and service assumptions to see where they will take a city’s or school district’s financial position in the future.

What do Munetrix and Facebook have in common? More than you might think. Unlike Facebook, Munetrix is all about productivity. Munetrix is a firm believer that there is no value to reinventing the wheel. What we believe is valuable, however, is that sharing the design and schematics of the invention of the wheel so that others can benefit from it is important.

The State of Michigan continues to push local units of governments and school districts toward greater efficiency, transparency and accountability. Much like it did with revenue sharing for municipalities through the Economic Vitality and Incentive Program in 2011, the State of Michigan established new best practice standards in 2013 for local and intermediate school districts under the State School Aid Act (Public Act 60) for 2013.

As mayor pro-tem for Auburn Hills I often receive emails from residents, and recently I received one from a concerned citizen asking why the roads in his neighborhood were so bad and what I was going to do about it. Most residents don’t understand the difference between a state, county or local road. They just know that when their tire blows out—they are not happy!

Surprises. We all hate them when it comes to budgets. Most local units of government have been pulling themselves up by the bootstraps since the impacts of the Great Recession. But the uncertainty of Mother Nature has thrown many for a frozen loop this year. How do you budget for snowiest January ever?

According to an Oakland Press’ editorial in the November 10, 2013 Open Forum, Michigan Republican state Rep, Lisa Posthumus Lyons is proposing legislature that would change the color-coded method Michigan currently uses to rate local schools to a single letter grade matching the report card formats used on K-12 education.

Are we failing the youth of this nation? No, this is not a POD song tribute… more of a commentary on the education system as a whole. It is my humble opinion that the attempts at making students more “well-rounded” have most definitely had the reverse effect.