In a time of economic volatility, relatively few local governments in Michigan report they are doing long-term financial planning-though many say they'd like to be doing more.
The findings come in the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the University of Michigan's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy.
The survey finds 29% of local governments have adopted a master plan that includes financial planning, 24% use revenue forecasting and 23% employ strategic plans. When it comes to formal long-term financial plans, the percentage drops to 15%.
Among communities doing any long-range planning, the study finds, most include expenditure, revenue and capital-cost projections. Fewer include explicit assumptions or concrete strategies to plan for financial health or liabilities such as pensions and debt.
"Clearly, larger Michigan local governments have the most capacity to make use of long-range planning approaches, said Debra Horner, the survey's senior program manager. "However, even in communities with over 30,000 residents, only around half report conducting long-term revenue forecasting or having a formal long-term financial plan for maintaining financial health."
Still, the survey notes progress: Almost half (49%) of the state's local governments have a formal balanced budget policy that goes beyond state requirements-a significant jump from the 22% who said they strictly followed a balanced budget policy in 2014.
The survey also finds an appetite among local leaders to boost their budgeting practices. They believe their government's approach should be more priority-driven than incremental, and would also prefer to increase the use of performance data, contingency planning, monitoring and transparency.
"I think what's really encouraging about this report is that there is a widespread recognition among local leaders that they need to get more strategic about their budgeting practices, especially now with heightened levels of economic uncertainty," said Stephanie Leiser, CLOSUP's director and one of the report's co-authors.
"Still, there are some pretty stubborn barriers-lack of time or expertise, entrenched political disagreements, a changing state and federal policy environment, resident apathy-that make reforms very difficult to put into practice."
Respondents include county, city, township and village officials from 1,328 jurisdictions across the state, resulting in a 72% response rate by unit. The survey was conducted April 7-June 12, 2025.
