LANSING – Michigan Legislative leaders and the governor approved target figures for the 2008-09 budget Wednesday, which include a 2 percent increase to revenue sharing as well as a slight hike for the state’s community colleges and public universities, with conference committee work beginning early Thursday.
The agreement calls for across-the-board decreases for departmental budgets.
Officials met throughout the day to work on the outline agreement, although with the revenue framework coming out of those talks appropriation subcommittee members will still be meeting to go over the particulars of their budget. Minority party members on the House side still hadn’t been informed of the details of the agreement by close of session.
House Appropriations Chair Rep. George Cushingberry Jr. (D-Detroit) briefed reporters after session adjourned shortly before 6 p.m., saying local communities will see an increase, though not as much as had been proposed, while higher education institutions will receive 1 percent increases a piece.
Senate officials and administration officials had no comment on the agreement as staff were reviewing numbers to ensure the budget would be balanced.
Cushingberry said department budgets will see a 0.5 percent across-the-board decrease in funding.
The per-pupil grant for students in K-12 systems still had not been finalized, but it’s expected that schools will receive more funding than the current fiscal year because the School Aid Fund is expected to have more revenue in the coming year.
Leaders apparently also have agreed to a $220 million capital outlay budget, which is less than an expanded budget that included projects for 39 universities and community colleges. It wasn’t clear which schools would be funded with the budget, but it is expected the funding will be split evenly between community colleges and universities.
On the revenue side the state will continue the film tax incentives offered to spur production in Michigan, but the overall revenue hit to the state will be capped at around $100 million, Cushingberry said. He added, however, that it’s not a straight cap because the state treasurer will be given discretion over approving the tax credits.
Overall spending is $397 million below the original recommendations of the governor due to the film credit drain on revenues, the impact of the federal stimulus package and the lower revenue estimate from the consensus revenue conference in May.
Cushingberry said a big plus to the negotiations was when the Granholm administration found $20 million for the Department of Community Health budget by making the state eligible to participate in discount drug purchasing through the pharmaceutical companies.
Cushingberry also said that he expected to vote out a supplemental budget to the current fiscal year from the Appropriations Committee in mid-July, which would include some added funding for items such as the arts. However, he said he still had to work on getting the votes to pass it out of the House.
The news that budget targets had been approved came mid-afternoon while both parties in the House were caucusing. Around that time there were also rumors abounding that the chamber would move legislation dealing with the individual health care market into conference committee, but that action never took place.
Most of the earlier part of House session saw lawmakers participating in a presentation of the Detroit Red Wings 2008 Stanley Cup.
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