LANSING ? Michigan took some $100 million more into its general fund coffers last fiscal year than expected, and Gov, Jennifer Granholm said Monday she would like to see at least some of that money go to tourism advertising.

Granholm announced Monday that the general fund and the School Aid Fund each took in some $100 million more than had been anticipated at the May Revenue Estimating Conference. The general fund boost is largely because of greater than expected income tax revenue.

Of those funds, Granholm said the best use would be for $25 million to bring the Pure Michigan campaign back on the air nationwide.

“The most important thing in my opinion that the Legislature can do … is to fully fund the Pure Michigan advertising campaign,” Granholm said. “The return on investment is tremendous.”

Matt Marsden, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester), said the Senate would not be ready to make any such decisions without more information and probably not until the January Revenue Estimating Conference.

“Her track record predicting whether we have excess money or not enough is less then stellar at this point,” he said, noting her proposal at the beginning of the 2009-10 fiscal year to cut school aid because of an expected shortfall. “I’m not sure that we actually have the money in excess to spend on Pure Michigan. When we verify whether or not there’s an excess of revenue in the state, we can have a conversation about where to best allocate that.”

House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) was noncommittal in a statement. He noted the House had passed a bill (HB 5017 ) to fund Pure Michigan through a fee on vehicles rented near airports. The Senate has refused to act on the bill, considering it a tax increase.

“We’re certainly open to looking at all options to fund ‘Pure Michigan,'” he said.

Granholm acknowledged there were still some final calculations to be done so the surplus was not yet firm, but she said there would be enough to fund the proposal. And she expected a fight over spending of those new funds.

Fall ads had been canceled because there was no funding left, and the current budget provides only $5.4 million, not enough for a national campaign, said Travel Michigan Vice President George Zimmermann. A full campaign is $30 million, which was the budget for 2008-09.

If the Legislature puts the money back in yet this month (not likely since the full Legislature is scheduled to meet just one more day in October), the state could launch a full winter campaign, Zimmermann said. If it waits until lame-duck session, the relaunch would have to wait until after the holidays.

Tourism industry leaders said the campaign is essential to their continued growth.

Zimmerman said hotel nights in the state had been boosted by the campaign. “It was not only up, but it was up double the national average,” he said.

Ken Hayward, chair of the Travel Commission and vice president of sales and marketing at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, credited the island’s partnership with Pure Michigan for a boost in out-of-state guests at the hotel. He said the hotel had more out-of-state guests than Michigan residents of the Independence Day holiday for the first time in many years.

Patricia Mooradian, vice chair of the commission and president of The Henry Ford, said that facility’s partnership program brought in 100,000 more visitors last year after what had been a stagnant visitor base of about 1.5 million people for the last five years.

Granholm and the tourism officials also pushed the Senate to move legislation that would allow growth in certain taxes related to tourism to be captured to fund the Pure Michigan campaign.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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