LANSING -Michigan’s residents need to know what kinds of changes they will face once the budget is adopted and prepare for those, Lt. Governor John Cherry said Tuesday as he called on the Legislature to enact the 2009-10 budget as close to July 1 as possible.
In a conference call with reporters, Cherry also said eliminating the Michigan Promise Grant, that helps finance college educations, would be “eating our seed corn” in terms of boosting the state’s future economy.
But he also recognized that the program could be reduced in terms of total costs because of the number of budget cuts the state faces. Still, it makes no sense to eliminate the Promise Grant, he said.
“It’s so basic to your state’s future,” Cherry said.
Typically, the Legislature tries to complete action on the next year’s budget by the July 4 holiday, even though the fiscal year does not start until October 1.
A number of officials and legislators have questioned if the budget would be completed until close to October 1.
But Cherry, the likely Democratic candidate for governor in the 2010 election, said the budgetary changes for next year are potentially so great the public needs as much time as it can get to prepare for them.
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