"It's no overstatement to say that property tax revenues are really the lifeblood of local government. So what do local leaders think about the tax-exempt properties within their borders—the ones that take up municipal services, but are exempt from...

Ford School Professor Barry Rabe was cited in Howard Gleckman's June 2 Forbes article "Could EPA's New Greenhouse Gas Rule Open the Door to a New State-based Gas Tax?" "The proposed EPA rules, which Brookings senior fellow Barry Rabe describes as...

The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) hosted the four declared candidates in Ann Arbor's mayoral race on Wednesday, April 16. The forum focused on the future of public transportation and prospects for economic development of Ann...

Members of the Ford School community—welcome, and welcome back! Summer tends to send us all around the globe—for family vacations, for research projects, for service engagements, for internships and jobs—but I love this time of year, when we...

Contact: Greta Guest, (734) 936-7821, [email protected] ANN ARBOR—For the first time in six years, more Michigan communities report that they are better able to meet their fiscal needs this year than those who say they are less able to do so. A...

“States are charging less and less to allow oil and gas companies to drill more and more,” writes Alan Neuhauser in the September 9, U.S. News & World Report article, “As oil and gas boom, energy taxes fall.” The piece refers to a forthcoming report...

In the near future, the Michigan legislature could redefine ‘renewable energy.’ Barry Rabe discusses the potential ramifications with Kate Abbey-Lambertz of the Huffington Post. In “Michigan May Redefine Fuel From Burning Tires As Renewable...

Results from a recent survey released by the Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) served as the basis for a Detroit News editorial advocating that municipalities continue to turn to privatization and intergovernmental...

2015 is shaping up to be a decisive year for U.S. energy and climate policy, according to a recent Christian Science Monitor article, “What are Republicans going to do about climate change.” While the 2016 presidential election is still nearly two...