Birmingham

Snyder gives positive look ahead at chamber event

By Tiffany Esshaki
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Deb Jacques Gov. Rick Snyder was optimistic about the year ahead as he spoke to the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Feb. 17. Photo by Deb Jacques Gov. Rick Snyder was optimistic about the year ahead as he spoke to the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Feb. 17.

BIRMINGHAM — The best days of Michigan are not behind us, they’re ahead of us.

That was the message Gov. Rick Snyder had for the Birmingham-Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce at The Townsend Hotel Feb. 17. Snyder, who just the day before had announced his endorsement of Mitt Romney, was the keynote speaker for the annual Government Forecast event, part one of a three-part series of forecast events the chamber hosts.

As the sold-out crowd finished breakfast, Snyder took to the stage and started his address by highlighting some of the progress the state has made in the past year. Among the accomplishments he mentioned were the transformation from state budget deficit to surplus, and the elimination of the Michigan Business Tax, which he dubbed the “dumbest tax in the United States.” He said that since the elimination of the tax, it’s estimated by The Tax Foundation that Michigan will jump from 49th to seventh in the 2012 corporate tax ranking.

Snyder called 2012 “the year of good government,” and said he plans to focus on common sense budgeting and management and outlined three points: Live within your means; prioritize; and ask for, measure and reward success. To the first point, Snyder said only, “How’s that for a radical concept for government?”

The governor cited safety as an area the state needs to make a priority. He said that in his budget he plans to set aside approximately $50 million to improve public safety, hopefully for a multi-year commitment. He added that he’ll be announcing further details March 7. Transportation was also on his list of priorities, and he said the state needs to find $1.4 million a year to fix roads and bridges.

Snyder likened government spending to lending someone a $5 bill; most people would ask the borrower what would be done with the money. He said that when cities come to him asking for money, their request should be for something that’s measurable.

“Why is it OK to go to government and say ‘give me money’ and expect to be given money? That’s not a smart model, and we’re going to lead the country in showing that we ask good, smart, fair questions.”

In relation to jobs, Snyder said he wants to do more than just provide the unemployed with job training; he wants to connect them with the jobs that are actually available.

“(The Michigan Talent Bank) is redefining workforce development to more than just training people to create talent, but also connecting talent. There are 76,000 open jobs on that portal today. If we filled those jobs, we would drop our unemployment rate by two percentage points. That’s huge.”

After closing his prepared remarks, he entertained questions from the audience on a variety of matters. When asked how large of a role the auto industry plays in the Michigan economy, Snyder replied by saying it’s a success story and a leading example of what he wants to do in other industries. He added that automotive is not the only manufacturing sector succeeding in Michigan, saying agriculture is doing extremely well.

“This is actually a broad-based recovery. One of the things we need to be wise about is we could actually end up with some key labor shortages, even with our unemployment. We’re not going to have people trained with the right skills for the positions that are there.”

Snyder fielded several questions concerning education, to which he said he’d rather focus on where the money for public schools is going, as opposed to where the finances are coming from. He said that while many schools are preforming well, the overall college readiness rate is 17 percent for graduating high school students, and that shows a need for improvement.

When it came to the issue of a state film tax credit, Snyder said he has no regrets on eliminating the incentive.

“It’s not a film credit, it’s writing people checks, and it’s writing people checks for 42 cents on the dollar. We’ve got a lot of business people in here, how many of you would grow your business if I gave you 42 cents of your costs? Would you hire anybody else?”

Overall, the governor seemed optimistic about the year ahead, and encouraged the crowd to be optimistic as well.

“All those labels of what sector you’re from shouldn’t matter. The only label that matters is Michigander, and I’m fired up to get it done. I hope you go out of here this morning fired up to get it done. I hope when someone stops and asks you, ‘How was that meeting this morning?’ It wasn’t a nice meeting; ‘I was fired up’ is the answer I want out of you.”

One person who seemed to match Snyder’s enthusiasm was Birmingham City Commissioner Gordon Rinschler.

“Our philosophy in Birmingham is to be positive and future-focused. He’s our kind of guy.”

Birmingham City Manager Robert Bruner agreed, but said he doesn’t think all of the points Snyder made about government apply to Birmingham.

“That’s one of the things that gives me a little bit of heartburn, when the governor makes these gross generalities about government. A lot of what he’s talking about is the state government, which few would disagree has been dysfunctional. But a lot of local government, Birmingham among them, they’re actually very well managed.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Tiffany Esshaki at tesshaki@candgnews.com or at ( ) - .