House committee amends DOT grant bill to change township mill threshold, adds treasurer data language

The Appropriations - Government Operations Division on an amended voice roll call on an SB 2012 DOT funding bill voted to further amend the measure to lower a township mill-levy priority threshold and to add language describing which tax data the state treasurer should use when distributing grant funds. The committee then voted to give the bill a do-pass recommendation as amended.

Committee members discussed language in the latest draft of Senate Bill 2012 that would score township road projects for grants administered by the Department of Transportation. The original draft gave "priority" to projects in organized townships that levy at least 24 mills for general-fund purposes; members raised concerns this could exclude townships that cannot reach 24 mills, including unorganized townships whose statutory maximum levy is 18 mills.

The bill’s DOT director, Ron Henke, told the committee the department intends to score applications on multiple criteria and to give higher-scoring townships a few more points for higher mill levies, rather than using a strict cutoff. "What we would do is, when we come up with all the criteria, we…