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Midland Business and Civic Leaders Ask for $20 million to Bolster Flood Resilience
Summary
A Midland coalition outlined multi‑year flood mitigation efforts and asked the subcommittee for $20 million in state support this cycle to advance short‑ and long‑term projects aimed at reducing flood frequency and severity.
Business leaders, local elected officials and civic groups from Midland presented to the House Appropriations Subcommittee a multi‑pronged plan to reduce the frequency and severity of flooding in the Tittabawassee watershed and requested $20,000,000 in state support phased across 2025 and 2026.
Tony Stamas, president and CEO of the Midland Business Alliance, said the coalition formed after repeated floods—including major flood stages in recent decades—and described a coordinated strategy combining short‑term resiliency projects, midterm infrastructure work and Army Corps of Engineers studies for long‑term solutions.
"We have a legacy of flooding in our community," Leanne Keller, co‑chair of Midland’s flood mitigation committee, told the subcommittee. She cited a $1.3 million seed campaign by local businesses and a broader fundraising target of about $58 million to advance a mix of projects addressing internal drainage, critical facility hardening and targeted pump and levee work.
Committee members heard that the Army Corps completed an initial hydrology and hydraulics study and that Midland secured authorization and appropriations to begin a Corps general investigation study, a long‑term federal process whose projects could take until 2030–2032 to materialize.
Midland representatives described midterm uses of existing federal/state funding, including a $40,000,000 city grant (with $25,000,000 ARPA funds having a spending deadline) being applied to drainage and sewer capacity improvements and targeted pump‑station work to protect hospitals and dense residential areas.
Bill Schutte, part of the local coalition, asked the subcommittee to consider $20,000,000 in 2025 as a meaningful state contribution that could help leverage federal and local funds and accelerate midterm protective measures while the Army Corps process proceeds.
Presenters emphasized the public‑health, economic and environmental consequences of repeated floods, including impacts to hospitals, schools, businesses and downstream water bodies. The subcommittee did not take an immediate vote; testimony focused on the portfolio approach and specific midterm project examples.
