MPPS | Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Most Michigan local officials report positive or neutral impacts from recent election reforms, but many express concerns around costs of early voting

October 7, 2026

Debra Horner, Max Wei, Stephanie Leiser

This policy brief presents Michigan city and township officials’ views on the impacts of recent election administration reforms enacted through state constitutional amendments passed in 2018 and 2022, such as automatic voter registration, registratio...

MPPS

Michigan local government leaders’ views on large-scale data center development

September 22, 2026

This report presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders on issues related to large-scale data center development in Michigan, including perceived impacts, local support for the development of data centers in or near the community, vi...

MPPS

Michigan local governments highly confident in election integrity, wary of disinformation

August 12, 2026

Debra Horner, Stephanie Leiser

This report presents the opinions of Michigan's township and city leaders on issues related to election administration in their jurisdictions, including confidence in overall accurate election administration and expected problems their jurisdictions ...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Local officials report declining outlook for state, plummeting approval of the Legislature

July 7, 2026

Debra Horner, Stephanie Leiser

This policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders regarding the direction in which the state is headed, as well as their evaluations of the job performance of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature. These ...

MPPS

Michigan local governments making progress on best practices in budgeting

May 6, 2026

Debra Horner, Natalie Fitzpatrick, Stephanie Leiser, Margaret Walthall, Morgan McKimmy

This report presents the assessments of Michigan's local government leaders on local budgeting processes, including the prevalence of multi-year budgeting, capital improvement plans (CIPs), long-term financial planning, and views on the appropriate l...

MPPS

Michigan Public Policy Survey - Spring 2025 County-wide Fiscal Health Fact Sheets

April 24, 2026

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Many Michigan local governments struggle to find residents willing to run for office or serve on boards

April 8, 2026

Natalie Fitzpatrick, Debra Horner, Stephanie Leiser

This policy brief presents Michigan local government leaders' views on resident engagement in their communities. Across the state, Michigan local leaders report steep declines in engagement over more than a decade, despite increased outreach efforts ...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Challenges to Michigan local government budgeting

February 4, 2026

This policy brief presents Michigan local government leaders' views on a set of eight specific challenges that they might be facing in their jurisdiction's budgeting process, including technical or procedural financial management challenges as well a...

MPPS

Smaller and more rural Michigan local governments are struggling with increased fiscal stress

December 17, 2025

This report presents Michigan local government leaders' assessments of their jurisdictions' fiscal conditions and the actions they plan to take in the coming year, given their financial situations. These findings are based on statewide surveys of loc...

MPPS

Michigan local leaders trust residents less, but say that local democracy remains strong

November 19, 2025

This report presents Michigan local government leaders’ trust in their residents and their assessments of the tone of discussion in local politics, as well as their views regarding the overall functioning of democracy in their jurisdictions. These fi...

MPPS

Michigan local leaders report alarming declines in resident engagement

October 28, 2025

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding resident engagement with their local governments, including assessments of the opportunities their local governments provide for engagement, residents’ overall levels of ...

MPPS

Growing consensus among Michigan local government leaders on revenue inadequacy, but declining support for local tax options

September 23, 2025

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding local revenue policy, including whether the state’s current system of funding local government will allow them to maintain or improve services, their preferences for rais...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Many Michigan communities concerned about the loss of federal and state funding, but uncertain how to prepare

August 12, 2025

This policy brief presents the assessments of local government leaders from around the state regarding whether the winding down of funds from sources such as ARPA, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), or other...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: A majority of Michigan local officials continue to say the state is on the wrong track, reflecting partisan affiliation and growing uncertainty

July 22, 2025

This policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding the direction in which the state is headed, as well as their evaluations of the job performance of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature. These ...

MPPS

Michigan local government and law enforcement leaders’ nuanced views on police accountability issues

July 8, 2025

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders, local chiefs of police, county sheriffs, and county prosecutors regarding accountability in law enforcement, including opinions on a nationwide officer misconduct database, who sh...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: More Michigan communities using policies to improve police-community relations

May 21, 2025

This policy brief presents the views of local government leaders from around the state, who were asked about policies and practices associated with police-community relations on both the Fall 2015 and Spring 2024 waves of the Michigan Public Policy S...

MPPS

Michigan local government leaders report significant increases in police surveillance technology, uncertainty about AI introduction

April 23, 2025

This report presents the assessments of Michigan’s local government leaders, local chiefs of police, and county sheriffs on the use and value of a range of law enforcement equipment and technology such as body and dashboard cameras, drones, automated...

MPPS

Michigan local leaders’ views on policing co-response and alternative response teams

February 26, 2025

This report presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders, local chiefs of police, and county sheriffs on alternative approaches to traditional policing that might involve other professionals, such as mental health professionals or tra...

MPPS

Half of Michigan local law enforcement agencies say they are underfunded, while most local governments are satisfied with their appropriations

January 23, 2025

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders, local chiefs of police, county sheriffs, and county prosecutors regarding funding for law enforcement agencies, including assessments of whether sheriff’s offices and police depar...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Pretrial diversion programs work, according to Michigan police chiefs, sheriffs, and county prosecutors

November 20, 2024

In spring 2024, the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) asked local chiefs of police, county sheriffs, and county prosecutors from around the state about their views on the impacts of pretrial diversion programs and whether they would support divers...

MPPS

Comparing Attitudes toward Recycling Programs and Issues among Michigan Residents and Local Government Officials

November 15, 2024

This report presents the opinions of Michigan residents in communities across the state of Michigan from Spring 2023 regarding a variety of issues related to recycling programs and policies. It also, where possible, compares them to the views of Mich...

MPPS

Michigan local government and law enforcement leaders’ initial opinions of Michigan’s new "red flag" law

October 30, 2024

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders, county sheriffs, local chiefs of police, and county prosecutors regarding Michigan’s Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, including confidence in training on proper ERPO impl...

MPPS

The functioning of democracy at the local level: a compendium of findings from the Michigan Public Policy Survey of local leaders

October 28, 2024

The Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) has released a new resource that summarizes Michigan local government leaders’ views on democracy and democratic governance. The findings come from the Michigan Public Policy Survey...

MPPS

MPPS Report: Michigan local governments report increased challenges with law enforcement recruitment and retention

September 17, 2024

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders, county sheriffs, local chiefs of police, and county prosecutors regarding recruitment and retention of law enforcement personnel, including police officers, sheriffs’ deputies, an...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Michigan local government leaders’ concerns about the health of democracy edge upward, including at local level

August 14, 2024

Since 2020, the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) has asked local government leaders across the state for their assessments of American democracy as a system of government, based on factors like free and fair elections, rule of law, an unbiased fr...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Michigan local governments’ planning and zoning on energy policy

July 17, 2024

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders on a variety of energy issues, including whether energy issues are relevant to their local government, whether their jurisdiction has energy policies or renewable energy goals, and...

MPPS

MPPS Policy Brief: Michigan local government officials’ views on expanding energy infrastructure in their jurisdictions

May 22, 2024

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders on the amount of energy infrastructure currently hosted in their jurisdiction, as well as their support for or opposition to building new energy infrastructure locally. These findi...

MPPS

Michigan local government leaders report increases in local planning for electric vehicles (EVs)

May 1, 2024

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders on electric vehicle (EV) policies in their communities, including the relevance of EV infrastructure planning for their government, whether they currently have or are considering l...

MPPS

Most Michigan local government officials say control over renewable energy projects should stay local

February 20, 2024

This policy brief presents the views of Michigan's local government leaders regarding the division of authority between state and local governments on planning and zoning for renewable energy projects. These findings are based on statewide surveys of...

MPPS

Survey of Michigan local leaders finds major short-term boost in financial aid doesn't change fundamentals of fiscal stress

January 23, 2024

This report presents Michigan local government leaders’ assessments of their jurisdictions’ fiscal conditions and the actions they plan to take in the coming year given their financial situations. The findings are based on responses from 15 statewide...