You get what you don't pay for: Why Michigan's cities are crumbling

I've been sitting here for hours, trying to find the right words to convey how important it is to invest in cities, in infrastructure, and in the essential government services that keep us safe and healthy, and keep the structures around us solid and functional. Or the problems with the funding mechanism we use in Michigan to provide cities with dollars to hire enough cops or firefighters, to provide a solid public education or building inspections or code enforcement.

But I can't. Want to put readers to sleep? Start a nice, deep dive into infrastructure investment or municipal government funding. Trust me, I've been doing this for years.

But the day-long closure of subway systems in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco made headlines last week, thrusting infrastructure investment into the headlines.

San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit even made infrastructure investment interesting for about five minutes, when the challenged transit system responded to riders angry at prolonged delays not with customer service chatter, but with a real acknowledgement of how hard it is to keep the aging, max-capacity system up and running, hashtagging tweet after tweet "#ThisIsOurReality."

The truth is, nearly every piece of costly public infrastructure in our country could tell the same story, and nowhere more so than in Michigan: Our water system, our roads, all of the largely invisible, un-exciting stuff we rely on to get places, to drink safe water.

The backdrop for the conversation here in Michigan, of course, is the systemic problems in places like Detroit and Flint, where years of declining revenue and a lack of investment pushed each city into crisis — Detroit with an emergency manager and a municipal bankruptcy, Flint with an emergency manager and a public health crisis.

While under the oversight of an emergency manager, Flint opted first to join a new regional water authority, and then to draw water from the Flint River while the authority was under construction. Because the river water wasn't properly treated, lead leached into it from aging welds and service lines, exposing Flint residents to irreversible damage. State regulatory agencies like the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, reporting to Gov. Rick Snyder, the federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and a succession of Snyder-appointed emergency managers all bear responsibility for this crisis.

But then there's this: Had Flint's lead service lines been replaced long ago, had its budget been sound enough to stave off emergency management, or if its revenue base hadn't declined sharply, the Flint water crisis could have been forestalled.

And the story is no less pointed when you look at government services.

New data compiled by the Michigan Municipal League show that between 2002 and 2012, the State of Michigan decreased the amount of money it sends to local governments by more than 56%, even while state revenue climbed by 29%. That's on top of the financial blow dealt to cities during the financial crisis, when the taxable value of property dropped, in some communities, by half. Because Michigan caps taxable value at the rate of inflation, cities can't quickly catch up, even when the economy has improved.

A smaller revenue pool has forced cities to cut services. The number of police statewide has declined by 5,000, economist Mitch Bean said, during the municipal league's Monday presentation.

For years, the Free Press Editorial Board has asked Snyder whether he's concerned about the way Michigan funds its cities — whether he'd make it a priority to re-evaluate the way the state provides dollars for cities to hire cops and firefighters, offer solid schools, keep streets paved and clear — the myriad local government services that most directly impact quality of life. And for years, his answer has been that he'd take a look, if the Legislature chose to put something on his desk.

Here's the bottom line: All this stuff we rely on costs money. We're not spending enough. What will it take to make a difference?