LANSING – Michigan’s lawmakers will likely march in the July 4 parades and then march on back to the Capitol to complete work on balancing the current year’s budget and the 2004-05 budget.

While legislators, especially House members champing at the political bit to break out of the starting gate for non-stop primary campaigning, were hoping to complete budgetary work by Independence Day, a growing consensus between lawmakers is that sessions will be required at least July 6 and 7 to finish work on the budget.

Even that, some said, may not be long enough to resolve the issues remaining in the budgets where the current year’s spending must be corrected by $150 million and the 2004-05 by $1 billion.

But given the surprising quickness with how the Legislature resolved differences on boosting the state’s cigarette tax, a resolution to the budget may yet be quickly found, said Greg Bird, spokesperson for the State Budget Office.

Resolution of the cigarette tax – the 75-cents a pack boost to $2 goes into effect on Thursday – was the major sticking point in resolving the budget, several officials said.

A meeting to work on budget targets is expected Monday, according to Senate officials, with another meeting likely to come Tuesday.

Even if targets are reached by then, conference committee meetings on the compromise agreements must be held before lawmakers vote on the final plans.

Along with deciding where to cut the budget, administration officials are still looking for additional revenues. Along with the cigarette tax, Gov. Jennifer Granholm had also called for an increase in Michigan’s liquor tax and a decoupling of the state’s estate tax from the federal estate tax, which is due to expire.

On its own, the House passed a doubling of the Detroit casino tax and sent the bill to the Senate where it was defeated a week ago.

Negotiations are underway to see if there is a compromise increased casino tax that would win the 29 votes in the Senate required to amend an initiated law. The House version would boost the tax to 36 percent, and officials said negotiators are trying to see if they could win approval of a tax increase set at 23 percent to 25 percent.

But with both business and labor groups sharply opposed to any increase in the casino tax, finding the 29 votes in the Senate will be difficult.

Though it defeated the increase once, Senate leaders have not closed the door completely on boosting the liquor tax, but winning its approval in the Senate will be much more difficult.

Republican legislators have said there is no chance they will enact the administration’s proposal on the estate tax.

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