Grand Rapids City Government

Most Americans probably haven’t heard of the term austerity until recently. If you lived in Europe, it would be a daily topic of discussion. Austerity essentially means being forced to live with less, particularly as it relates to government benefits. As Greece has essentially entered a period of national bankruptcy, the government is finally...
Read more »

This past week the City of Grand Rapids has admitted that the pension fund deficit for this coming fiscal year (starting July 1, 2010) has gotten even worse than before. According to the Grand Rapids Press, the city’s pension plan actuary (the people who run the plan and tell the city how much needs...
Read more »

Grand Rapids’ Chief Financial Officer, Scott Buhrer, updated the city’s Fiscal Outlook through 2014 on February 12. You can read the report here. My first reaction was, “Finally, somone at City Hall gets it!” I will quote extensively from his comments and bold the comments that I believe are important to note. This financial...
Read more »

In a story that was the same time baffling and a bit funny, the City of Grand Rapids has decided to keep six full time parking lot attendants on the payroll, even though their jobs were replaced with automated parking lot machines. Here’s a quote from the article: “When automated ticketing machines took over...
Read more »

A little-discussed news item is that, as the Great Recession drags on, states are getting crushed under piles of borrowing to continue to pay unemployment benefits. As states run out of money, they begin to borrow from the Federal Government. Why is this issue important? Because the state will eventually have to repay this...
Read more »

2010′s property tax assessment documents were sent out last month and you have a very small window of time to appeal your assessment. In many cases, taxable values went up while property values went down. The city of Grand Rapids has a web page with the required documentation you need to fill out for...
Read more »

The October revenue report for the state of Michigan has been released, and there’s very little good news to be had. Revenues were again below the most recent projections. October saw tax collections that were $31 million below expectations. The best real-time indicators of economic activity, sales taxes and income tax withholding, are both...
Read more »

An important article appeared in the Grand Rapids Press last week that highlights several issues regarding the failed Silver Line bus system and the false claims of economic development that are touted by the Silver Line’s supporters. The Grand Valley Metro Council (very much pro-Silver Line) won $400,000 in federal grants to clean up...
Read more »

It was only a matter of time. Now that the Congress and US Treasury have decided that it is legitimate for the Federal Government to spend $700 billion “bailing out” various banks and financial companies, the line is getting longer of those holding their hands out for free money from heaven. First, we were...
Read more »

This weekend’s Grand Rapids Press had an article about the ballooning cost of a potential “light rail” system that is in the works for Grand Rapids. The project hasn’t actually even begun, but already the potential cost has jumped from $69 million to $79 million – in the span of one year. The Rapid is...
Read more »