“Part of the problem is that the people trying to negotiate are very inexperienced with what they’re doing and also the Legislature is much more polarized in a partisan sense than it once was.”

With Michigan facing a $1.75 billion shortfall and the start of the new fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, the state risks a government shutdown if a solution is not reached by Thursday.

For some citizens, however, the state Legislature has been dragging its feet and putting many lives at risk.

“I’m very concerned the public is losing faith in their Legislature,” said Dan Farough, executive director of Progress Michigan, an organization that works to hold public officials accountable for their actions.

“Their job is to solve the fiscal crisis and they have continually failed to do so.”

Progress Michigan has organized a petition to force the state to withhold representatives’ and senators’ pay until a budget is reached. The petition is expected to reach about 100,000 families.

“The frustration at the lack of action has been there for quite a while, but resolved very quickly over the last few days out of the feeling that the only way for this fiscal crisis to be resolved was if legislators have a direct financial stake,” Farough said.

“We want to send a clear message, no budget means no pay for legislators.”

The organization is looking to turn the petition into the state today. People can sign the petition at www.nopaypoliticians.com.

It isn’t clear whether legislators would continue to be paid if a government shutdown were to occur.

“If there really is a shutdown and we get to October with no budget bill in place, there’s no authority to write any checks at that point for anyone’s salary — in the Legislature or executive branch,” said Bill Fairgrieve, deputy director of the House Fiscal Agency.

However, there has been movement in the chambers to pass budget bills. The Senate passed two bills Monday that would cut about $950 million from some services.

“The emphasis is that these are not actual cuts,” said Louis Meizlish, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

“What is being characterized as cuts are really a lack of an increase. Higher education is not being cut, it’s flat funding.”

In an effort to push Republican members of the House and Senate to compromise on the issues, 28 former state Republican legislators sent letters urging lawmakers to “embrace higher revenues as part of a broad-based compromise agenda of structural reforms and budget cuts.”

“(Legislators) have got to understand if they don’t get a budget in time it could damage Michigan’s reputation for years to come,” Ballard said.