Inside Michigan’s $77 billion state budget
“There’s something here for just about everybody,” says Gongwer journalist Zach Gorchow of the state budget.
Michigan House of Representatives chamber.
The Michigan government reached a budget deal last week. The $77 billion amount the Republican state legislature and Democratic governor settled on was close to what was originally proposed in February.
Education, special local projects, infrastructure work and local government pensions received some of the highest priority.
“When you have this unprecedented run up in revenues… there’s just so much money available that everybody should be able to go home pretty happy.” — Zach Gorchow, publisher and executive editor of the Gongwer News Service
Listen: Where Michigan’s budget money was prioritized.
Guest
Zach Gorchow is the publisher and executive editor of the Gongwer news service in Lansing. He says lawmakers had an easier time making a deal on the budget because there was so much state revenue available from federal assistance that came during the pandemic.
“When you have this unprecedented run up in revenues — I mean just billions and billions and billions of dollars beyond what the state had had until very recently — there’s just so much money available that everybody should be able to go home pretty happy,” says Gorchow.
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