Mr. Robert Daddow

As the last day of Fiscal Year 2009 draws to a close legislators are struggling to enact a new Michigan state budget for FY 2010. This afternoon Gov. Granholm sent out notices of impending layoffs should a deal not be reached. After using one-time using federal “stimulus” money the state still needs around $1.3 billion in program reductions and/or new revenues (higher taxes, more fees) to close the budget gap.Yet even if another midnight deal is reached and state government opens for business as usual tomorrow, the current challenge probably pales in comparison to the fiscal storm on the near horizon.

"Friend of the Court" is a county government function involved in administering child support payments. A congressional mandate may require this local government function to be centralized at the state level. Is this good policy?

County government innovations in Michigan's second-largest county are saving money and improving public services for more than 1.1 million residents.

Ecorse, a Michigan community south of Detroit, gained a national reputation in the late 1980s as a town that took privatization seriously. Over a four-year period, Louis Schimmel, court-appointed receiver, privatized most city services, cut the city's work force more than 60 percent, and eliminated a $6 million budget deficit. Daddow's review of the city's efforts to correct its fiscal problems through spending discipline and privatization is a must-read for every city official who wants to learn lessons from a city that's been to the brink and back. 99 pages.

Ecorse, one of seventeen communities in the Downriver Detroit area, became the first Michigan city to be placed in receivership. Court-appointed Receiver Louis Schimmel turned the city's finances around through aggressive policies of cost cutting and privatization. He privatized the entire Department of Public Works for a minimum annual savings of $400,000. Other cities such as nearby Detroit have much to learn from the Ecorse experience. 13 pages.