The “Link Michigan” proposal in troduced on November 29, 2001 included three bills. We reviewed these bills and evaluated the fiscal im pact on telecommunication providers and their customers; local government; and the state.
Our estimations are based on rigorous analysis of the actual bill, a comparison with current law, review of the available data from the MPSC, FCC, and other government sources, and a sophisticated simulation model.
Using conservative assumptions, we estimate the first-year impact of the proposal to be $4.4 million in new permit fess im posed on telecommunications providers and their customers, an increase of $5.8 million in reimbursements to local government for right-of-way; and $70.9 million in new right-of-way taxes. While permit fee revenue is forecasted to fall from its peak in the initial year, the revenue from reimbrusements and the right-of-way tax continues to grow over the following decade.