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Snyder ready to sign austere budget; DetNews.com-May 27. 2011
Topic Started: May 27 2011, 10:53 PM (264 Views)
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Snyder ready to sign austere budget

GOP-led Legislature OKs spending plan with broad cuts to education, other state departments

Karen Bouffard/ Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing— The Legislature sent a $46 billion budget to the governor's desk Thursday, with Republicans praising its dramatic changes and Democrats slamming its cuts to social programs.

The spending plan is $1.1 billion less than what the state spent this year, pays down school and state employee retirement debt and bolsters the state's rainy day fund by $256 million.

"This is a high-quality budget," Gov. Rick Snyder said of the plan, passed just five months after he took office.

But Sen. Tupac Hunter, D-Detroit, said working families, children and seniors will feel the worst effects.

Snyder "hasn't signed a single bill that will create jobs, instead focusing on legislation that will make it harder and harder for average families to survive during these difficult economic times."

Thursday's action was the earliest a budget has been approved in 30 years. In 1981, the Legislature sent a budget to Gov. William Milliken on April 15. Lawmakers this year were working to meet their self-imposed deadline of May 31. Constitutionally, the budget has to be approved by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. In two of the past three years, lawmakers missed the deadline, forcing the state into short shutdowns.

Republicans claimed passage as a major victory, but cautioned more work lies ahead. Snyder, earlier Tuesday, said his priorities will shift to offering legislation for the construction of a publicly-owned span over the Detroit River, as well as fixing schools and local government reform.

After the House voted 62-47 and 59-50 on the two huge bills and the Senate followed with votes of 23-15 and 21-17, a beaming Snyder whipped out his computer to show he's been watching the clock.

"I have my countdown clock, and it still reads five days, one hour and 55 minutes," the Republican governor said. "The speed with which we've gotten this budget done … sends an important message to our state and the rest of the world that Michigan is focused on results and outcomes."

Spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said Snyder is not expected to sign the budget bills until after he returns from next week's Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island.

The package of two huge "omnibus" bills — one for education and the other for the rest of government — outlines appropriations for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, and includes spending plans for the next two years.

It is coupled with sweeping tax reforms signed into law Wednesday that include a $1.8 billion tax break to businesses, new pension taxes and elimination of most individual and business tax breaks.

Snyder's plan has prompted angry protests on the Capitol grounds since it was introduced. Many were angry over cost-saving measures, cuts to state and public school employees, a rollback of union protections and a tax on public pensions.

Taxes, service cuts criticized

Advocates for seniors and the poor claimed the impact will cripple pensioners and families struggling to make ends meet, inflicting a heavier tax burden while at the same time cutting social services.

Cassandra Walker, a volunteer with Westside Mothers, a Detroit-based welfare rights group, said she is worried about how a new 48-month time limit on welfare will affect the people she works with. The Senate Fiscal Agency estimates 12,600 families, about 15 percent of caseloads, will be thrown off the rolls Oct. 1.

"If they are underemployed, it will affect them deeply," said Walker, a former welfare recipient who was able to get off assistance after completing her education. "We've let them know so they can be prepared, but how are they going to be prepared if there's no jobs, I don't know."

Christina Fecher, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Human Services, said families with children will be impacted. She noted they will still be able to receive food assistance, Medicaid and child development and childcare benefits.

"DHS has a group in place that is working on a communication plan about these changes that will include a letter sent to clients in September with regard to their October benefits," she said. "The last time they would have benefits loaded on their Bridge card would likely be September for anyone meeting the new limit."

The budget focuses on "making Michigan strong for the future, in terms of being fiscally sound, not using one-time funds to balance the budget, no accounting gimmicks, and then actually making payments towards our long-term liabilities," Snyder said Thursday.

He noted the budget increases funding for Medicaid, preserves mental health services and invests more in child welfare.

"We did have to cut a lot from this budget to have us be successful for the long term," Snyder said. "But it does set a foundation for the future."

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, lauded the governor for leading boldly on a budget he said solves Michigan's structural budget problem.

"It's a pretty historic vote — we're pretty excited about it," Richardville said. "We've closed the first chapter to the book of reinventing Michigan."

Spending leashed to revenue

The budget brings spending in line with revenues rather than the other way around, House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said in a statement after the House passed the budget.

"This is truly a new era in Michigan," he said.

"We've reduced spending, tackled long-term and long-neglected debt, and created a structurally balanced budget without using accounting gimmicks or funny money," said Rep. Chuck Moss, R-Birmingham. "We've also gotten a solid handle on a balanced budget for 2013."

House Democratic Leader Richard E. Hammel of Mount Morris Township said the House's action will "cause long-lasting economic damage to our state."

"What we're seeing is a commitment to the dismantling of public education in Michigan," he said in a statement.

Public schools would be cut by an additional $300 per student — on top of a $170 cut — although some of the reduction could be offset with one-time assistance.

Universities would face a 15 percent cut in state aid.

The state's largest teachers union is launching television ads criticizing state lawmakers for cutting money for public schools. The 30-second ad shows a student and adults wondering why money is being cut from school funding and aiding businesses.


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110527/POLITICS02/105270382/Snyder-ready-to-sign-austere-budget#ixzz1NbzkF1Wd
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The schools exist to educate, not employ.
Lets get this economy moving, and much of the division in this state will have to make way.

Nothing like a healthy job market to change one's perspective.
“Child Abuse” means different things to different people....
----Randy Liepa 8/9/12
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