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Headlines : Michigan, Missouri, Texas
Budget surpluses spur tension in some GOP states
Now Republicans who control a majority of the state capitols in the United States face a far greater philosophical dilemma - what to do with all the money when an improving economy suddenly creates a surplus in revenues.
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Headlines
Ex-Penn State president tops highest paid list
Presidents of public universities are taking home bigger paychecks, and a growing number are raking in more than $1 million.
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Headlines
What if the Internet Sales Tax Doesn't Make it Through Congress?
Some states are so anxious for the anticipated revenues they've already committed the money to various projects.
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Headlines
Williams: Marketplace Fairness Act and Internet taxes are not the answers to state budget problems
Bob Williams: Hoping for more federal stimulus or hoping the feds will allow taxes on the Internet will not solve the budget crises the states currently face. The problem is spending, not revenue.
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Headlines
State Pension Litigation Update, May 2013
In attempts to reign in the costs of pensions, state lawmakers legislate pension reform. Challengers to those reforms often bring suit, alleging violations of state law, contracts, and the Constitution.
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Budget timeline: Annual
Fiscal Year starts: October 1
The current state budget can be found here.
Find the legislative session calendar here.
Find the current legislative leaders here.
Gov. Rick Snyder
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, MI 48909
Phone: (517) 373-3400
Fax: (517) 335-6863
http://www.michigan.gov/gov
John Nixon, Director
Office of the Budget
111 South Capitol, 6th Floor
Lansing, MI 48913
Phone (517) 373-7560
Fax (517) 241-5428
http://www.michigan.gov/budget
Want a more robust, long-term look at your state's fiscal health, beyond the budget? There are two parts: Click here for the FY2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) compiled by the state government, and click here for information on the state's pension liabilities.
Michigan is required to pass a "balanced budget." According Article III, Section 52 of the 1867 Constitution, in the budget the governor submits, the balance for total appropriations shall not exceed the balance of total revenues. Neither the governor nor the general assembly shall cause the total appropriations to exceed total revenues. Michigan law forbids the carrying over of a deficit from one year to the next. Even with these requirements, the State reported budget deficits (negative net transactions) on the CAFR's Budgetary Comparison Schedule for each of the years reviewed.
The State maintains five governmental funds: (major) the General Fund and the Department of Transportation-Special Revenue Fund, and (non-major, which are combined for reporting purposes) the debt service fund, the debt service fund for transportation revenue bonds and the capital projects fund. Michigan budgets on a cash basis. Funds that are budgeted include: the General, Special Revenue, and Federal funds. Most, but not all funds, are budgeted.
There are no statutory requirements that govern what kinds of assumptions can be made about revenue or expenses, and so the Michigan budget may be "unbalanced" in different ways in different years. [from the Institute for Truth in Accounting]
Find the state's bond ratings here.
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Mackinac Center for Public Policy |
Unions :
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HEADLINES: Michigan
5 budget battles to watch as Michigan lawmakers piece together state spending plan
There are always stumbling blocks and areas of disagreement that have to be resolved as the budget process advances. This year in Michigan, those topics include funding for roads, health care and education -- among other topics.
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HEADLINES: Michigan
Snyder Talks State Budget, Detroit Leadership, Belle Isle And Right To Work
Gov. Rick Snyder suggested the state's strong labor unions have no one to blame but themselves for Michigan becoming a right to work state - because they pushed a collective bargaining issue over his objections.
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Pensions :
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HEADLINES
GAO finds growing state, local fiscal gap with Medicaid to blame
Closing the gap to achieve fiscal balance over 50 years will require "action to be taken today and maintained for each year equivalent to a 14.2 percent reduction in the state and local government sector's current expenditures."
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HEADLINES
State Pension Litigation Update, May 2013
In attempts to reign in the costs of pensions, state lawmakers legislate pension reform. Challengers to those reforms often bring suit, alleging violations of state law, contracts, and the Constitution.
- View All Michigan articles
K-12 Education :
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HEADLINES: Michigan
5 budget battles to watch as Michigan lawmakers piece together state spending plan
There are always stumbling blocks and areas of disagreement that have to be resolved as the budget process advances. This year in Michigan, those topics include funding for roads, health care and education -- among other topics.
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RESEARCH
The School Staffing Surge: Decades of Employment Growth in America's Public Schools, Part II
Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers' numbers increased 252 percent, while administrators and other non-teaching staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students.
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Higher Education :
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HEADLINES
Ex-Penn State president tops highest paid list
Presidents of public universities are taking home bigger paychecks, and a growing number are raking in more than $1 million.
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HEADLINES
Performance based funding becoming the new norm in higher education
As universities and colleged continue to struggle with declining revenues, states are increasingly looking to performance-based funding in an effort to get more bang for their limited higher education dollars.
- View All Michigan articles
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Solutions:
How Reality-Based Budgeting Can Permanently Resolve State Budget Gaps
State Budget Solutions recommends that state legislators take action in 2013 to resolve the serious state financial crises by changing their focus from inputs to outcomes by redesigning budgets from the ground up based on priorities and performance.
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Solutions:
How to Prevent Future Pension Crises
The time for state and local governments to offer defined contribution retirement plans that protect both taxpayer dollars and public employee retirement security is now.
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Solutions:
State Lawmaker’s Guide to Evaluating Medicaid Expansion Projections
Supporters of Obamacare claim that expanding Medicaid will entail little to no cost to state governments, since the federal government will fund the vast majority of the additional costs. Indeed, some analyses project states achieving savings from adopting the expansion. However, state lawmakers should be wary of accepting such analyses at face value.
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Solutions:
Medicaid Is Broken—Let the States Fix It
Block-granting Medicaid is the best way to deliver better, cost-effective care to the most vulnerable Americans.
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Solutions:
The Case for Reform: Prisons
Prisons are supremely important, but they are also a supremely expensive government program, and thus prison systems must be held to the highest standards of accountability.
- View All Solutions
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State Pension Litigation Update, May 2013
In attempts to reign in the costs of pensions, state lawmakers legislate pension reform. Challengers to those reforms often bring suit, alleging violations of state law, contracts, and the Constitution.
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GAO finds growing state, local fiscal gap with Medicaid to blame
Closing the gap to achieve fiscal balance over 50 years will require "action to be taken today and maintained for each year equivalent to a 14.2 percent reduction in the state and local government sector's current expenditures."
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In Congress, a Bill Seeks to Tie Municipal Borrowing Power to Public Pension Disclosure
Representatives from California and two other states introduced a bill in Congress on Thursday that would strip states and cities of their right to issue tax-exempt bonds unless they first disclosed the true cost of their pension plans and whether they could pay it.
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States move along different roads to tackle underfunding dilemma
More states are enacting measures to help improve the solvency of their public pension funds as funding ratios remain low.
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GASB changes to boost pressure for pension reform, Fitch report says
Impending changes in Governmental Accounting Standards Board standards in 2014 and 2015 should increase public pressure on decision-makers to reform state and local government pension plans, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.
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BLOG: Higher Education, Spending
Who is the highest paid state employee in your state?
Time to add a new diagram to the state budget and policy playbook--your state's highest paid employee is probably a football or basketball coach.
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BLOG: Medicaid
Medicaid expansion won't yield quality health care
The bombshell Oregon Medicaid study released this week should give all states pause as they consider plans to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. States must now ask what the point of Medicaid is in the first place.
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BLOG: Budget Gimmicks, Budget Processes and Systems, Measures to Balance Budgets, Spending, State Debt
Let's Put Privatizing Municipal Services Back on the Table
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BLOG: Unions
Airing Out the Smoke-filled Rooms: Bringing Transparency to Public Union Collective Bargaining
To help prevent union strong-arming that fleeces taxpayers, we should know precisely what public union officials are demanding and what government employers are offering in any collective negotiation about employment terms and conditions.
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BLOG: Budget Gimmicks, Budget Processes and Systems, Budget Transparency, Federal Government Impact, Federal Government Impact, Measures to Balance Budgets, Pensions, Revenue, Spending, State Debt
Yes, Your Paycheck is Smaller...And it May Get Worse
And it isn’t just individuals who must reconfigure budgets, the states are looking at smaller “paychecks” as well.
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