LANSING, Mich. — Michigan taxpayers' money was front and center in Lansing Wednesday as Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist and representatives of the State Budget Office appeared before lawmakers to propose how Michigan should spend those dollars as part of next year's state budget.
"As I said in my State of the State, we have a heck of a record," Whitmer told lawmakers. "So, let’s build on it by enacting another balanced, bipartisan and fiscally responsible budget. My proposal today will deliver on the vision that I outlined a couple weeks ago: lowering costs, improving education and ensuring that anyone and everyone can make it here in Michigan."
Sitting at $80.7 billion total, the proposal for Fiscal Year 2025 is $1 billion less than the state's highest-ever final budget passed last year.
The proposal unveiled just how much some of the governor's most high-profile plans from her State of the State address last month would cost:
- As she has called for universal pre-K in the state, her proposal includes $159 million to expand state-funded pre-K to achieve that goal two years early.
- Where she's called for tuition-free community college for qualifying high school graduates, her proposal placed a $126 million price tag on increases to and continuation of some of the state's top tuition assistance programs.
- $200 million was also slated in the proposal for Whitmer's push to continue offering state-funded breakfast and lunch to all public school children in Michigan.
- To establish a new family caregivers' tax credit for which she pushed in January, the proposal would allocate $37.5 million.
"I know a lot of people watched the [State of the State] speech and rightfully asked, 'How the heck are we going to pay for this stuff?'" Whitmer said. "Well, by balancing the budget."
In explaining that response, she pointed to debt the state has been able to pay off, in her view allowing for dollars to be used elsewhere.
"Over the last few years, we have paid down certain debt from MPSERS, our retirement program for our educators," Whitmer said. "We've been able to pay it down early it's kind of like paying off your mortgage early, so we've got dollars that we don't have to continue using towards that."
But, in the end, these numbers are only a proposal.
To pass a final budget, Whitmer would need majority support from both legislative houses - a task featuring little room for error as Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the Senate and as the House stands at a tie until April.
And even before that, it would need the go-ahead from the Appropriations committees that make budget-funding bills.
Sitting on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Mark Huizenga (R-Walker) told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, while there are areas he agrees with, he believes others will need work.
"I'll always stand for working together, getting things done for our communities, happy to work bipartisanly," Senator Mark Huizenga (R-Walker) said. "At the end of the day, we have to recognize that these are hardworking taxpayer dollars. We have to make sure that we spend them prudently. And I, frankly, thought that there was a little bit of fluff in this budget - actually, quite a bit."
Specifically, he drew issue with proposed programs like a continuation of state-funded breakfast and lunch to Michigan public schools - programs he believed to be too broad.
"If you think about the example of free breakfast, lunch... that applies to all public schools, all districts regardless of income," Huizenga said. "I'm not sure that's an actual prudent usage of dollars. We take some of our school districts that have high-income earnings - is that a good way to spend taxpayer dollars right now? Probably not."
He also expressed skepticism over spending given debt the state still has yet to pay off, calculated by fellow committee member Senator Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) during the hearing to estimate $45 million.
And with budget talks that often take months to finish, it's likely many changes could be made.
But as for a bare minimum the governor would accept for this year's budget if cuts are made, Whitmer declined to offer any specifics at this time.
"I will always negotiate with the legislature, regardless of whether its Republican-controlled or Democratic-controlled," Whitmer said. "That's my job; I've started the process, and we'll go from there. But, I'm not going to say, 'Here's this or that' right now. [Lawmakers] haven't even had an opportunity to read the whole budget yet. So, there'll be plenty of time for those kind of conversations in the coming months."
The new fiscal year is set to start on October 1st.
Information on the entirety of the FY 2025 budget proposal can be found on the State Budget Office's website.
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