Legislators have little more than a week to get a budget enacted before a Nov. 1 deadline if Michigan is expected solve its budget crisis.
Michigan still faces about $440 million in cuts since the last continuation budget was signed Oct. 1. So far, no bills enacting any cuts have been introduced.
“Every single department has a specific dollar number that needed to be cut out in an effort to reach $440 million,” said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester. “Back on Sept. 29 we agreed in exchange for votes on new or higher taxes.”
The continuation budget included a broad framework on how those cuts would be distributed.
“It included categories like $52 million in cuts from (Department of) Community Health and $50 million from Department of Corrections,” said Leslee Fritz, spokeswoman for the Michigan Office of the State Budget.
In each of those departments, where the cuts would come from is now being negotiated in the state Legislature, Fritz said.
“There’s been a lot of talk of $80 million coming from the Department of Human Services,” said Judy Putnam, spokeswoman for the Michigan League of Human Services, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Michigan citizens and human services. “We’re not thrilled a disproportionate cut is from programs that serve poor people. We were still pleased in the Oct. 1 budget deal that even deeper cuts would not be made, but the poorest people in the state are taking a hit to balance the budget.”
The state could face another threat of a government shutdown if those cuts are not made in time.
Both Republican and Democratic legislators are fighting to protect their own budget and constituencies, said Ed Sarpolus, vice-president of EPIC-MRA. There’s no difference between the budget position the state was in last month and now, Sarpolus said.
“The only difference is the governor is in a lot stronger of a position because it’s a question of budget cuts and not revenues,” Sarpolus said. “The money is coming in, but you have business groups who want to remove the (6 percent) service tax.”
Coalitions have been forming across the state to repeal the expansion sales tax to services which would not go into effect until Dec. 1.
An increase in the income tax rate went into effect Oct. 1 and has since been generating revenue for the state, Fritz said.
Meanwhile, departments and organizations across Michigan will keep an eye on the Legislature to see what areas get cut in the upcoming week or whether the state will take negotiations down to the wire.
“We’re going to run into crunch time again,” Sarpolus said. “The question is what happens when it goes crunch?”
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