Glossary24 terms

Plain-Words Glossary

The words local government uses, in short definitions. Each one comes from a Michigan statute or an official page, linked under the entry; the one exception is our own term “request for comment,” which says so. Where we could not find an official source we left the word out and say so below.

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A

Apportionment: Under the General Property Tax Act, the county board of commissioners determines the amount of money to be raised for county purposes and apportions it.
Source: Michigan Compiled Laws, General Property Tax Act, MCL 211.37. Wording checked against: “ascertain and determine the amount of money to be raised for county purposes”

C

Closed session: A public body may meet in closed session only for purposes the law lists. Entering one generally takes a 2/3 roll call vote, with exceptions for some purposes. The roll call vote and the purpose are entered into the minutes.
Source: Michigan Open Meetings Act, MCL 15.267(1); MCL 15.268. Wording checked against: “A 2/3 roll call vote of members elected or appointed and serving is required”

Collective bargaining: Under Michigan’s public employment relations law, bargaining collectively means employer and employees’ representative meet at reasonable times and confer in good faith on wages, hours and other terms of employment.
Source: Public Employment Relations Act, MCL 423.215(1). Wording checked against: “confer in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment”

F

Fiscal year: A county’s fiscal year is the calendar year ending Dec. 31, unless its board of commissioners chooses another period the law allows.
Source: Michigan Compiled Laws, counties, MCL 45.201. Wording checked against: “shall be the calendar year ending December 31”

FOIA (Freedom of Information Act): Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act says all persons, except those held in state or local correctional facilities, are entitled to full and complete information about the affairs of government.
Source: Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.231(2). Wording checked against: “all persons, except those persons incarcerated in state or local correctional facilities, are entitled to full and complete information”

G

General fund: In Michigan Treasury’s uniform chart of accounts, the general fund accounts for and reports all of a local government’s financial resources that are not accounted for in another fund.
Source: Michigan Department of Treasury, Uniform Chart of Accounts, description of governmental funds. Wording checked against: “all financial resources not accounted for and reported in another fund”

H

Headlee rollback: If the assessed value of existing property grows faster than the general price level, the Michigan Constitution requires a local government’s maximum authorized tax rate to be reduced.
Source: Michigan Constitution, Article IX, section 31; see also MCL 211.34d. Wording checked against: “the maximum authorized rate applied thereto in each unit of Local Government shall be reduced”

I

Internal controls: GAO’s internal control standards, written for federal agencies, describe internal control as a process used by management to help an agency achieve its objectives.
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, Green Book, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government. Wording checked against: “Internal control is a process used by management to help an agency achieve its objectives.”

M

Material weakness: In auditing, a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility a material misstatement will not be prevented, or detected and corrected, on a timely basis.
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-24-107219, footnote 3. Wording checked against: “such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement”

MCL (Michigan Compiled Laws): The Michigan Compiled Laws are the Legislature’s compilation of Michigan laws in force. “MCL 15.268” means section 15.268 of that compilation.
Source: Michigan Legislature, FAQ: What are the Michigan Compiled Laws?. Wording checked against: “the compilation of Michigan laws in force”

Megawatt-hour (MWh): A megawatt-hour (MWh) is one thousand kilowatt-hours, or one million watt-hours.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, EIA glossary, megawatthour. Wording checked against: “One thousand kilowatt-hours”

Millage, mill: A mill equals one one-thousandth of a dollar: $1 of tax for each $1,000 of taxable value. Millage is a tax rate stated in mills.
Source: Michigan Legislature, Taxpayer's Guide, Property tax section. Wording checked against: “A mill equals one one-thousandth of a dollar”

N

New business: A standing item on the order of business of a regular Gratiot County Board meeting, listed after commissioners’ reports and before unfinished business. The rules do not define it further.
Source: Gratiot County Board of Commissioners Rules of Organization (as amended Apr. 21, 2026), Section 5.2, item 12. Wording checked against: “Consideration of New Business”

O

Open Meetings Act: The Michigan law (MCL 15.261 and following) that requires all meetings of a public body to be open to the public and held in a place available to the general public.
Source: Michigan Open Meetings Act, MCL 15.263(1). Wording checked against: “All meetings of a public body must be open to the public”

P

Packet: In the Gratiot County Board’s rules, the meeting packet includes at least the agenda, the previous meeting’s minutes, correspondence to be received, written committee reports and other documents to be presented or acted on.
Source: Gratiot County Board of Commissioners Rules of Organization (as amended Apr. 21, 2026), Section 5.3. Wording checked against: “The packet shall include at a minimum”

Public comment: Michigan’s Open Meetings Act says a person must be permitted to address a meeting of a public body under rules the body establishes and records.
Source: Michigan Open Meetings Act, MCL 15.263(5). Wording checked against: “permitted to address a meeting of a public body under rules established and recorded by the public body”

Public record, exemption: Under FOIA, a public record is a writing prepared, owned, used, possessed or retained by a public body in performing an official function. Section 15.243 lists information a body may exempt from disclosure.
Source: Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.232; MCL 15.243. Wording checked against: “prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body in the performance of an official function”

Q

Quorum: For the Gratiot County Board, a majority of commissioners elected or appointed and serving is a quorum for ordinary business. With no quorum, no business is considered.
Source: Gratiot County Board of Commissioners Rules of Organization (as amended Apr. 21, 2026), Section 5.1. Wording checked against: “shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of ordinary business of the Board”

R

Records request: Under FOIA, a person who wants to inspect or receive a copy of a public record makes a written request to the public body’s FOIA coordinator.
Source: Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.235(1). Wording checked against: “shall make a written request for the public record to the FOIA coordinator of a public body”

Redaction: Michigan’s FOIA does not use the word. It requires a public body to separate exempt from nonexempt material in a record and make the nonexempt material available.
Source: Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.244(1). Wording checked against: “the public body shall separate the exempt and nonexempt material and make the nonexempt material available for examination and copying”

Request for comment: Our written question to a person or office, sent so they can answer. Every request we send to a public official or agency is listed, with any reply, on the Requests for Comment Log.
Source: How this site uses the term: How We Work, rule 2, Our own rule, not a legal term.

S

Special assessment: Under Michigan’s township improvements law, a township board may decide that all or part of an improvement’s cost is paid by special assessments against the property especially benefited.
Source: Michigan Compiled Laws, township improvements, MCL 41.721. Wording checked against: “defrayed by special assessments against the property especially benefited by the improvement”

T

Taxable value: The value on which Michigan property tax is figured. By statute it is generally the lesser of two figures: one built from the prior year’s taxable value, the other the current state equalized valuation.
Source: Michigan Compiled Laws, General Property Tax Act, MCL 211.27a(2). Wording checked against: “the taxable value of each parcel of property is the lesser of the following”

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