CLOSUP Updates

Bridge Listens: The state of democracy, transparency in Michigan

Jul 28, 2026 Bridge Michigan

Michigan has been at the epicenter of heated national debates over election policies and how the democratic process works, particularly since President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 loss.

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Opinion: Democracy is a skill we may be forgetting

Jul 15, 2026 Livingston Daily

Democracy isn't just about what's making national headlines. It's about the city council meeting, the board of education meeting and the local little league game.

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Local officials think the Legislature is doing a bad job

Jul 10, 2026 Gongwer

The opinion of local government leaders on the state, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Legislature is falling, according to a statewide survey conducted in spring of 2026 by the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy Center for Local, Sta...

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U-M survey finds 60% of local officials believe Michigan is ‘on the wrong track’

Jul 9, 2026 Click on Detroit

A majority of local officials in Michigan say the state is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new survey from the University of Michigan.

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

Jul 7, 2026

A new 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.

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Report: Local governments getting better at budgets; municipal leaders looking for more new approaches

May 8, 2026 Gongwer

Michigan’s local government units have improved over the past decade at adopting formal budgeting policies and exceeding state requirements for employing data-driven, predictive budget practices for their jurisdictions, a new report from the Universi...

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New MPPS Report: Michigan local governments making progress on best practices in budgeting

May 6, 2026

A new MPPS report presents assessments by Michigan's local government leaders of local budgeting processes, including the prevalence of multi-year budgeting, capital improvement plans (CIPs), and long-term financial planning, as well as views on the ...

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Special Episode on Local Government Finance Report

Apr 14, 2026 Michigan Association of Counties podcast

Michigan counties are leaving the era of COVID-prompted aid with good balance sheets, says a University of Michigan researcher in a new Podcast 83 episode.

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

Apr 8, 2026

A new MPPS policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders on resident engagement in their communities. One significant area of concern is resident representation on local elected and appointed boards.

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New Fiscal Health Project Report: The Fiscal Health of Michigan Local Governments 2024

Mar 16, 2026

A new report from CLOSUP's Fiscal Health Project provides an annual update on Michigan local government fiscal health.

To shore up American democracy, look to city hall

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New MPPS Policy Brief: Challenges to Michigan local government budgeting

Feb 4, 2026

A new MPPS policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders on a set of eight specific challenges that they might be facing in their jurisdiction's budgeting process, including technical or procedural financial management cha...

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Michigan city leaders say local democracy is working

Jan 14, 2026 WDET 101.9 FM Detroit

At the federal level, democracy is on its heels in America. But at the local level, despite weak participation, officials say democracy is strong. The trash is getting picked up on time, and services are being properly distributed, especially in more...

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Local democracy is strong, but rural Michigan communities are falling behind, new survey shows

Jan 6, 2026 Yahoo! News

According to our recent survey of officials in Michigan communities, local democracy is humming along and city hall is taking care of business.

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New MPPS Report: Smaller and more rural Michigan local governments are struggling with increased fiscal stress

Dec 17, 2025

A new MPPS 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.

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Local Elected Officials Trust In Residents Drops; Trust In Democracy Holds Fast

Nov 20, 2025 Michigan Information & Research Service Inc.

A new statewide survey of local government leaders across Michigan shows a paradox: officials say local democracy is functioning well, even while their trust in residents has fallen to its lowest recorded level.

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New MPPS Report: Michigan local leaders trust residents less, but say that local democracy remains strong

Nov 19, 2025

A new MPPS 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. Th...

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New MPPS Report: Michigan local leaders report alarming declines in resident engagement

Oct 28, 2025

A new MPPS 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 leve...

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

Sep 23, 2025

A new MPPS 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 fo...

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

Aug 12, 2025

A new MPPS 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...

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New 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

Jul 22, 2025

A new MPPS 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. ...

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Michigan Leaders Back Police Misconduct Database, Not Access

Jul 9, 2025 Mirage News

Michigan's local leaders strongly support a law enforcement database for keeping track of officer misconduct, though far fewer are in favor of that database being accessible to the public. That's a key finding from the latest installment of the Michi...

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Report: Local lawmakers, law enforcement officers want access to misconduct reports, internal investigations

Jul 8, 2025 Gongwer

There is widespread support among local government and law enforcement for the creation of a statewide misconduct database for law enforcement officers, according to a report from the University of Michigan's Center for Local, State and Urban Policy....

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New MPPS Report: Michigan local government and law enforcement leaders’ nuanced views on police accountability issues

Jul 8, 2025

A new MPPS 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, ...

Local Officials: Residents trust police more where there are policies to improve relations

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Report: more localities implementing policies to improve relationships between communities and police

Jun 2, 2025 State Affairs

Michigan communities have increasingly adopted techniques to improve relations between their residents and local police, a study from the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State and Urban Policy found, but have seen less movement on making t...

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Navigating the Complexities of Trust in US Policing: A Holistic Approach to Community Engagement, De-escalation, and Independent Oversight

May 23, 2025 Forward Pathway

Your sharp-tongued editor is here to tackle the thorny issue of public trust in U.S. law enforcement, or, as it’s increasingly known, the public distrust in U.S. law enforcement. Because, oh, brilliant, it seems that after years of national conversat...

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

May 20, 2025

A new MPPS 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 Po...

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June 4, 2025 Webinar | A new tool for digitizing municipal financial reporting

May 19, 2025

On June 4, 2025, the University of Michigan’s CLOSUP team and the Michigan Open Source Software (MOSS) initiative hosted a Zoom webinar on Digitizing municipal financial reporting: A new open source tool for Excel - XBRL conversion. The speakers were...

magnifying glass over part of a balance sheet, with calculator and pen

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Michigan Public Policy Survey suggests uncertainty among local officials on AI police surveillance technology

May 12, 2025 The Michigan Daily

Since 2009, the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy has conducted the Michigan Public Policy Survey, a biannual survey of local government leaders across the state. This year’s report, “Mich...

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Energy Experts Highlight Broader Implications

May 1, 2025 Thumbwind.com

Industry analysts note that the repeal could have significant ripple effects. Sarah Mills, senior research specialist at the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, pointed out in a recent report that Michigan’s clean ener...

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Michigan Law Enforcement Expands Tech Use, but AI Adoption Remains Uncertain

May 1, 2025 Babl

Michigan’s law enforcement agencies have significantly expanded their use of surveillance technology over the past decade, though uncertainty remains high around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, according to a new report from the Univer...