LANSING — Lt. Gov. Brian Calley has signed a series of bills that allow the Detroit Zoo and the Detroit Institute of Arts to receive 100 percent of millages funding those institutions. Some revenues from those millages were being diverted for other purposes in some municipalities.
“Voters approved millages to support these cultural icons, and these bills guarantee that the voice of the voters in southeast Michigan is not only heard, but followed,” Calley said.
In 2008 and 2010, legislation was enacted to assist the state in preserving the Detroit Zoo and the Detroit Institute of Arts by creating new county taxing authorities with the power to levy taxes in support of the institutions. Voters in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties later approved millages to support these institutions.
House Bill 4458, sponsored by state Rep. Eileen Kowall, prohibits a Tax Increment Finance Authority from capturing regional property taxes meant to subsidize the Detroit Zoo and the Detroit Institute for the Arts. It is now Public Act 61 of 2013.
HB 4461, sponsored by state Rep. Harold Haugh, prohibits a Local Development Financing Authority from capturing regional property taxes imposed to subsidize the Detroit Zoo and the Detroit Institute for the Arts. It is now PA 62.
HB 4463, sponsored by state Rep. John Walsh, prohibits a tax increment financing plan used to subsidize a local “street railway system” from capturing regional property taxes imposed to subsidize the Detroit Zoo and the Detroit Institute for the Arts. It is now PA 63.
HB 4464, sponsored by state Rep. Gail Haines, prohibits a tax increment financing plan used to pay for public facilities from capturing regional property taxes imposed to subsidize the Detroit Zoo and the Detroit Institute for the Arts. It is now PA 64.
Calley said the three remaining bills in the package will also be signed once they reach the governor’s desk. They are HB 4459, 4460, and 4462.
Gov. Rick Snyder is on a trade mission to Israel this week. Article V, Section 26 of the Michigan Constitution gives authority to the lieutenant governor when the governor is outside the state.
Visit michiganlegislature.org for more information on the bills.
