Granholm signs final budgets, laments cuts

LANSING — Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the final six budgets for the fiscal year which began Oct. 1 Friday morning, averting another state shut down. But her John Hancock on the bills doesn’t mean she’s happy about it.

In a long press release from the governor’s press office, Granholm outlined what each budget she authorized would do, and what it wouldn’t do.

The release says Granholm vetoed $127 million in spending, and “noted that had she been able to add revenue to the budget or veto special interest tax loopholes out of it, she would have done so.”

Here’s a break down of the bills signed, and what the governor had to say:

The Department of Community Health budget provides $13.1 billion in spending, with $2.3 billion of that coming out of the general fund. Granholm said the budget made a drastic eight percent reduction to Medicaid reimbursement pay outs and eliminated $40 million from mental health programs.

The governor also approved $1.6 billion in spending for higher education, of which $1.5 billion comes from the state’s general fund. The remainder is made up in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act monies.

That budget did not fund the Michigan Promise Scholarship, and eliminated nursing scholarships, the Michigan Work-Study Program, the Part-Time Independent Student Program, and the Michigan Education Opportunity Grants. It also carved the state competitive scholarships by $17.9 million.

With the Michigan State Police budget, Granholm signed off on funding the department at $527.3 million, of which $267.3 million is general fund money. That budget included increased funding for a forensics lab to assist the Detroit Police Department, but failed to fund school bus inspections. To offset the issue with bus inspections, Granholm announced she had ordered MSP to find cost cutting and saving measures to transfer money to cover the costs of the program, which is an unfunded state mandate.

Over in the Department of Energy Labor, and Economic Growth, Granholm approved $1.4 billion, which includes $55.1 million in general fund money. The budget included an additional $18 million to fund additional hires in the unemployment division to handle unemployment calls.

And in the Department of Human Services, she signed off on a budget at almost $6 billion, including $860.3 million in general fund money. Employment and training programs, child welfare improvements, child day-care and juvenile justice programs were all “drastically reduced” from her recommendations, she said, expressing disappointment.

The last budget Granholm signed Friday morning was the general government budget tipping the scales at $3 billion, which includes $626.9 million in general fund money. This budget funds the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, The Gov’s office, the legislature, treasury and other departments.

The general government budget also contained $991.6 million in revenue sharing. Cities, villages and townships will receive $936.3 million, while counties eligible to receive resumed state payments are funded at $55.3 million.

And while these budgets reflect the all cuts demands of Senate Republicans, which House Speaker Andy Dillon signed off, Granholm says she will continue to fight for target revenue sources.

“Michigan has a budget in place but not the budget we need,” Granholm said. “I will not pretend that this is a good budget. This budget cuts, rather than supports, Michigan’s most pressing priorities: educating our children and helping them pay for a college education, maintaining health care for our most vulnerable citizens, and keeping police officers and fire fighters on the streets of our communities.”