The Berrien County Board of Commissioners has approved a resolution opposing a proposed rule change at the federal Office of Management and Budget that would redefine a metropolitan statistical area, or MSL. County Community Development Director Dan Fette told the board Thursday the OMB defines an SMA as an area with at least 50,000 people, and Berrien is within the Niles-Benton Harbor MSA. The proposed rule would change the threshold to 100,000, eliminating the county’s MSA and hundreds of others.
“The problem with this and the concern that we have is that having MSA designation provides us with a level of statistical analysis of our economy that otherwise is not available to non-MSA communities,” Fette said. “We’re able to see real-time information from the Bureau of Economic Analysis about GDP growth or decline.”
Fette says the current MSA has existed since 1978. Downstream, he said it affects things including Community Development Block Grants and road funding. Congressman Fred Upton has asked the OMB not to approve the change. Now the county has done as well. Its resolution will be sent to the federal office.
