IPR's Election Notebook is a weekly roundup of voting information and local events, ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Have something we should know about? Send us an email at ipr@interlochen.org.
We’re 40 days from election day. Look out for your mail-in ballot.
Absentee ballots start to go out in the mail today, so if you’ve requested one, it might land in your mailbox soon. If you haven’t applied for an absentee ballot and want one, there’s still time to apply online. You can also pick up an absentee ballot in person from your election clerk.
Voter registration for in-person voting is also still open.
You may have seen the lawn signs. But what is all this talk about TIF?
Zooming in on a local issue, let’s take a look at Traverse City. There are a couple of ballot proposals that will impact the future of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for community projects.
There are two proposals on Traverse City ballots in November that would make it so that the city council could not use, or expand, any TIF funding without asking voters first.
TIF is when a government designates a district, most often downtown, where it wants to make investments.
Then the government, in this case the city, bets on future, higher tax revenue from that redevelopment to finance the projects before they're built, in hopes that higher tax revenue after an area is redeveloped will be more than the cost of the project.
Traverse City has used this for various projects — like redeveloping Boardman Lake and Grand Traverse Commons.
The first proposal on the November ballot, City Prop. 1, says that proposed TIF-funded projects would have to pass on the ballot. In other words, voters would have to give their approval to each individual project in a TIF district.
This is unusual, and some have questioned whether it complies with Michigan state law, including the state attorney general’s office.
The second proposal, City Prop. 2, would put the decision to renew the current TIF ordinance, which is set to expire in 3 years, up to the voters, instead of the city commission.
Both proposals came from petitions submitted by a group of residents called TC Taxpayers for Justice.
They say that Traverse City’s TIF districts divert millions of dollars from city finances, only to be spent downtown, leaving taxpayers elsewhere to make up the shortfall.
"TIFs both increase our property tax rates and crowd out other uses of that money," said Fred Bimber, a Traverse City resident and former attorney who worked on TC Taxpayers for Justice's petition. "They crowd out anything else that we might want to do with city tax revenues."
He said putting all TIF projects before voters would force city officials and developers to come up with better proposals and plans.
Others think TIF is fine as it is — and that the city officials that voters elect should be able to use the mechanism as they wish. Traverse Together is one group of TC residents against the proposed new TIF rules.
"We've been trying to organize a lot of in-house, smaller, salon-type meetings to help educate people about the different types of TIFs that are out there," said Gary Howe, one of Traverse Together's organizers.
Howe said Traverse City lawmakers need to be free to use TIF to run the city. According to Howe, people who gather at Traverse Together's meetings often are curious about TIF and don't have their minds made up yet, but that organizers hope to to explain "how [TIFs] are used and why they're critical to the city's economic sustainability and planning efforts."
There are a few events coming up about this:
- The Slabtown Neighborhood Association will discuss the TIF proposals, with both sides present, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday Oct. 1 at the Traverse Bay United Methodist Church, at 1200 Ramsdell St. in Traverse City.
- The League of Women Voters of Grand Traverse County will host a forum about the TIF proposals on at 6 p.m. on Oct. 8 at the Traverse Area District Library.
More county commission debates coming up
The Grand Traverse County Commission is wide open this year. Nine total seats are up for grabs and only one is uncontested. The League of Women Voters will be hosting a candidate forum for that race this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Traverse City Library.
It’s a good opportunity to meet the candidates representing your district and figure out what their stances are.
A few more notes: free cherry pie and a VP candidate in town
Head to the Cherry Pie Debate early next week to hear candidates for Michigan's 103rd House District answer questions. The event is put on by the League of Women Voters of Leelanau County, the Leelanau Enterprise, and IPR — IPR's Ed Ronco and the Enterprise's John Elchert will moderate.
Republican Lisa Trombley and incumbent Democratic Representative Betsy Coffia will debate, right after statements from candidates for Leelanau County Commission.
Doors open at 6 p.m. on Oct. 1 at Glen Arbor Township Hall. And yes, there will be actual cherry pie.
Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance will be in northern Michigan tonight at 7 p.m., speaking at the fairgrounds in Grand Traverse County to supporters about the auto industry and other manufacturing jobs in Michigan.
This is the Trump-Vance ticket’s first visit to our region this election cycle, though they've made many visits elsewhere in Michigan.
That’s all for this week.
And if there are any races or local issues you want us to cover before election day, send us an email at ipr@interlochen.org.
