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Committee reviews Muskegon County four-year administration goals: finance, waterfront heritage, housing and airport targets
Summary
Committee members discussed the administration’s four-year strategic goals, including a target to achieve an AA+ bond rating, waterfront heritage-landing planning, efforts to address homeless youth, and airport revenue strategies to reduce general fund support.
At its April 17 meeting, the Muskegon County Community Development and Strategic Planning Committee reviewed the administration’s proposed four-year goals for county departments, focusing on financial sustainability, waterfront heritage landing planning, homelessness and airport development.
Chair Nance introduced the strategic-plan binder that staff provided to directors for aligning short- and long-term goals. The county’s strategy, she said, is structured in three phases — assessment, strategy development and actionable implementation — with departmental goals tied to that framework.
On finance, staff described a multi-year goal to raise the county’s bond rating from AA to AA+. The presentation noted the importance of maintaining fund balance targets (a stated 14–19% policy, with the county holding at about 19% in recent years) and building reserves for departments to support later spending. The finance briefing credited internal budgeting changes over the past seven years for stabilizing the county’s rating and called the AA+ goal a four-year effort requiring sustained action.
The committee also discussed a heritage-landing project for Muskegon’s lakefront. Committee members said the county-created parks commission will advance a county role in waterfront design and that the county’s work should coordinate with the City of Muskegon’s downtown waterfront redevelopment. Commissioners emphasized balancing park redesign and parking access so residents and visitors remain able to access fishery and waterfront activities.
Housing and homelessness emerged as another four-year priority. Commissioners asked staff to coordinate with city managers and nonprofit partners on homeless youth programming; one commissioner noted that Muskegon County risked being the only county in Michigan without a homeless youth program in 2026. The committee agreed to invite presenters who have briefed Rotary and other groups to provide an update to the committee.
Airport goals were presented by Scott Lucas, Community Development Director. Lucas outlined a target to reduce the airport’s general fund contribution by 25% through revenue increases: adding an online car-rental tenant, building 14 new T-hangars and three larger box hangars, normalizing lease rates across about 77 leasable airport properties, and activating the terminal restaurant. He reported recent passenger growth after Denver Air Connection began service in November and said the county expects to exceed 10,000 passengers this year, targeting 20,000 passengers annually as a longer-term objective. "We expect to solidify Muskegon as a critical transportation link in the West Michigan economy," Lucas said.
Public comment included a request from the county prosecutor that the committee not overlook interior repairs and tenant-facing finishes during the capital program. Staff said facilities will coordinate sequencing and scheduling for interior work and carpeting and that departments with urgent needs will be prioritized.
The committee deferred two remaining departmental goal sets to the next meeting and agreed to follow up with work sessions on South Campus transition and homeless-youth programming.
