Mich. Township’s 21-Year-Old Deputy Treasurer Is in Hot Water; Maine Shifts Gears to Weatherization
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Also: Some future localized water relief in California’s Central Valley and Utah’s state park system may expand.
Here’s some of what we’re reading today ...
AUGUSTA TOWNSHIP, Michigan: The 21-year-old deputy treasurer in this jurisdiction near Ann Arbor, accused of using taxpayer money to pay his personal bills, could be facing some very hefty jail time and penalties. As MLive.com reports, an investigation was launched by the Michigan State Police and the Michigan attorney general’s Public Integrity Unit after a handful of property owners were sent delinquency notices on property taxes they already paid. The deputy treasurer, Brendan Humeniak, was appointed to his position by his grandmother, Augusta Township Treasurer Lynda Dew. [MLive.com]
PORTLAND, Maine: The administration of Gov. Paul LePage will shift $3.8 million in funding for low-income heating assistance to programs that will encourage home weatherization projects. As the Portland Press Herald reports:
The extra funds are expected to insulate and air-seal 350 additional homes and improve heating systems at 588 homes, for a total of 2,225 households. That will make only a small dent in the number of low-income homes needing weatherization. But the increase comes at a time when low oil prices are giving Mainers some relief from high energy bills, and officials say any chance to boost efficiency and buffer future price spikes is welcome.
According to Patrick Woodcock, LePage’s energy director, more money from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program should go toward weatherization, the Press Herald reports. “We have to get through a Maine winter,” he said. “But we should be investing more to lower these costs for future winters.” [Portland Press Herald]
MODESTO, California: Some farmers in the drought-ravaged San Joaquin Valley may be getting some relief as soon as 2018, when the city of Modesto could selling highly treated wastewater to the thirsty Del Puerto Water District. As The Modesto Bee reports, the Modesto City Council is slated to take action this week that will pave the way to such an arrangement, which will require some infrastructure to be built from the city’s wastewater treatment plant to a canal connecting with the Del Puerto Water District. [The Modesto Bee]
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah: After an audit from a few years spotlighted problems with large subsidies given to certain Utah state parks and efforts by the state to restructure how the parks are run, Utah’s State Parks and Recreation Division Director Fred Hayes thinks it’s time to expand the number of parks in the system, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. "The best growth is controlled on a pay-as-you go basis,” Hayes said of the proposed expansion. “They should be able to pay their own bills." [The Salt Lake Tribune]
MONTGOMERY, Alabama: Attorney General Luther Strange is asking a U.S. District Court to reduce the total amount of legal fees being sought by two Mobile attorneys who successfully challenged the Yellowhammer State’s ban on same-sex marriage. As AL.com reports, “the fee they claim is entirely excessive and should be cut dramatically,” according to a court filing. The attorney general argues that it should be reduced down from an hourly rate of $275 per hour to something more “reasonable,” like $150 per hour. [AL.com]
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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