LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – After months of debate, lawmakers came to a final budget agreement early Friday morning, passing an $81 billion budget around 4 a.m., two days past the October 1 deadline.
The compromise plan boosts funding for education, roads, and student meals while cutting vacant state jobs and removing certain controversial grants. The overall budget comes in about $800 million lower than last year’s, with final numbers dependent on pending federal decisions about provider taxes that could leave Michigan on the hook for up to $5 billion this fiscal year.
Education is one of the largest pieces of the budget, totaling $24.1 billion. That includes a record $10,050 per-pupil foundation allowance, $493 million for community colleges, and $2.3 billion for Michigan’s 15 public universities. It also continues universal free school meals with $201.6 million and expands student safety and mental health grants by $321 million.
One Upper Peninsula lawmaker said the fight over education funding was one of the toughest parts of negotiations.
“This school budget basically reinstates everything that everybody was worried about,” said Representative Dave Prestin. “Ten thousand fifty per pupil, funding restored for smaller schools, and record support for student meals and mental health. This budget delivers.”
The budget also finalizes a long-term road funding plan expected to generate more than $1.8 billion annually, including $1 billion this year. Much of the revenue will come from a new 24% wholesale marijuana tax, which is projected to raise $420 million.
Though some lawmakers were reluctant to introduce a new tax, others said it was the right move.
“I’d tax it 142% if I could,” Prestin said, pointing to heavy traffic from Wisconsin customers in border towns like Menominee. “I have no problem with that whatsoever. We just had a referendum regarding marijuana dispensaries in Menominee, 80% of the people in Menominee want them gone. People are coming over from Wisconsin are really contributing nothing to our communities.”
Republicans celebrated the elimination of more than 1,700 vacant state jobs and the removal of proposed recreation fee increases. Democrats pointed to expanded student supports, including universal free meals and mental health funding.
For the Upper Peninsula, the budget includes $3 million for upgrades at Sawyer International Airport in Marquette County and $900,000 for a new fire truck in the City of Ishpeming. Absent from the plan is a $50 million grant for infrastructure tied to the Copperwood Mine in Wakefield Township. Prestin said that the project is still a priority.
“We are committed to seeing that project through,” Prestin told WZMQ. “The mine is fully permitted, the ore body is recognized as a critical mineral, and I’m confident it will get done. Stay tuned.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign the budget in the coming days, calling it “the biggest investment in schools in Michigan history.”eals and mental health funding.
