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Media contacts: Barbara Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications, 248.260.8466, barbara@eafocus.com; Bob Kittle, Munetrix, 248.797.1337, bob@munetrix.com

Auburn Hills, Mich. – March 31, 2015 – Bob Kittle, president of Michigan-based Munetrix, which offers a proprietary fiscal credit score and early warning indicator for school districts and municipalities through a data-driven, public-facing dashboard that complies with state transparency laws, announced that Munetrix data was used as the basis for a report just released by SEMCOG (Southeast Michigan Council of Governments) revealing Michigan member communities with a perfect financial indicator score, known as a Munetrix score. A complete listing of the communities, which includes Bedford, Birmingham, Brighton Township, Dexter, Northville Township and Rochester Hills, can be viewed here.

“Munetrix has data on more than 6,000 municipalities and school districts across the country, including all of Michigan’s 500 plus school districts, 300 charter schools and 1,800 municipalities,” Kittle said. “Looking at data in order to identify fiscal trends, we are able to create a Munetrix score that rates cities and schools from zero (perfect fiscal score) to 10 (financially insolvent) with a FICO score like methodology. We are pleased to partner with SEMCOG to aid in important research on governmental fiscal issues that help identify and prevent a financial crisis situation in our cities and schools, in an early warning manner.”

The announcement on Munetrix’s contribution to the SEMCOG report comes on the heels of Kittle testifying before the Michigan legislature on March 25 about a series of “early warning” bills currently under consideration in Lansing. The tie-barred bills (many of which will not take effect unless preceding legislation passes) are House Bills 4325 – 4431. All bills look at budgets and early identification of deficit or likely deficit districts, with the threat of withholding state-aid revenue based on issues of non-compliance.

Kittle’s testimony reflected the state’s need to focus on anticipating and avoiding fiscal stress among its school districts in the first place, rather than reacting to financial disasters after they occur.

SEMCOG supports coordinated, local planning with technical, data and intergovernmental resources. SEMCOG’s plans improve the quality of the region’s environmental resources, make the transportation system safer and more efficient, revitalize communities, and encourage economic development. Munetrix regularly collaborates with SEMCOG and other governmental support or watchdog agencies to provide detailed data support and analysis. Learn more about SEMCOG here.

About Munetrix
Michigan-based Munetrix is the creator of the Munetrix (municipal metrics) cloud-based local government transparency tool and is among the nation’s largest aggregators of municipal and school district data, allowing subscribers to view public sector financial and demographic data in an easy to understand format and use that data to make meaningful and reliable budgets and financial projections. What is your community’s Munetrix Score? To learn more, visit the Munetrix website.

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