The state is less than a month from the statutory July 1 target for finalizing a balanced budget and lawmakers are anxious to avoid a repeat of the standoff last year that dragged past two legal deadlines.
Senator Sam Singh (D-East Lansing), the Majority Floor Leader and Number 2 ranking Senate Democrat, said the process is further along than it was at this time last year.
“So, I am still hopeful that we’ll get done prior to July 1,” he said. “That would give local governments and school districts, universities and colleges a strong sense of what they’re going to see happen.”
But Peter Spadafore with the Michigan Association of School Administrators said K-12 school officials are already starting to sweat because they are planning now for their fiscal year that begins July 1. He said decisions need to be made now about academics, staffing and facilities.
“We’re into June now,” he said. “The state knows how much revenue there is to spend, and we should be focusing on getting that budget done. We were hopeful that they would buckle down and get the budgets done. We have not seen that be the case yet.”
House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) said he wants the budget to be balanced without pulling money from the Budget Stabilization Fund. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has called for tapping $400 million from the state’s “rainy day” savings in her budget proposal.
Hall has also said “no” to new taxes on nicotine products and internet gaming with the exception of a 6% “luxury tax” on services such as country club and marina memberships and travel on private jets. Hall wants the revenue to help fund a property tax rollback.
“Any deal that we make on a budget will include property tax reform,” he said. “So, we’ve got to get moving in those negotiations as well if we want to meet the July 1 deadline.”
He pegs the revenue at $270 million, but if that projection does not pan out, that would have an impact on funding for schools and local governments.
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