By Tom Ivacko (MPA ’93), executive director, Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy Democracy in the United States and across the globe has been in decline for years, as documented with rigorous tracking methodologies. Freedom House has tracked...

A majority of Michigan local leaders' assessments of their fiscal stress this year remain essentially unchanged compared to both 2021 and 2020, despite significant infusions of federal and state aid in recent years.  The findings come from the...

Stephanie Leiser, XBRL US: "Making government financial data open and accessible to all is the right thing to do, and it is long overdue. Financial transparency is absolutely essential to maintaining trust between governments and the public. Equally...

Increasing transparency in how local government works got a boost when the U.S. Congress passed the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) on December 15, 2022. The act requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt data standards related...

Michigan’s local governments report a long trend of increasing employee pay, but a third of local leaders say wages are still too low. The issue is relevant for their finances as 92% of Michigan local governments report having some type of paid...

Tom Ivacko, Hour Detroit: Tom Ivacko, executive director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan, nailed it: “The 2022 election outcomes will be the hot topic — including what they mean for Trump and his hold...

The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) has been partnering with XBRL US, to work with the City of Flint to explore whether a new fiscal reporting mechanism for governmental entities can help create transparency—and prevent future...

With the guidance and support of the Ford School’s research centers, graduate and undergraduate students are creating a real-life impact in a range of areas by working with external partners. The Ford School is deeply integrated with a wide range of...

Elected officials from local, county, and state government came to the Ford School to hear about the potential for collaborations with their offices and the School’s faculty, research centers, and students.  Fifteen members of the Michigan State...

The number of Michigan local government leaders reporting problems retaining their jurisdictions’ workers nearly doubled in 2022 compared with five years earlier. In addition, jurisdictions of all types and sizes have faced increased difficulty...