The Michigan Legislature will be in session Wednesday for a last-minute dash to finalize a new state budget before a midnight deadline. The deadline is set under a state law that says the Legislature must finish the budget by July 1 – although there are no consequences for the Legislature if it misses that deadline, as it did last year.
Members of the GOP-controlled House and the Democratic-majority Senate were told to show up for work Wednesday and dress comfortably in anticipation of a long day leading up to the deadline set in state law. The deadline is primarily to assist K-through-12 school districts, public universities, community colleges and many local governments have fiscal years that begin Wednesday.
Robert Schneider with the non-profit Citizens Research Council of Michigan said missing the deadline by a day or two would not trigger immediate disaster, but it would be embarrassing for lawmakers seeking reelection this year.
“Each week, each month makes it tougher on local governments and school districts to figure out what they’re going to do when they don’t know what that major funding stream from the state is going to be for them,” he said.
But local officials and school administrators have expressed frustration that the process has dragged out this long – and that the Legislature is poised to miss the deadline for the second year in a row.
Peter Spadafore with the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity said schools have fiscal years that begin Wednesday and local school boards have been working for months to wrap up their budgets.
“You know, they start having those conversations and figuring out what the classrooms going to look like next year, what class sizes are going to be, what contracts they’re going to sign with school safety organizations and things like that,” he said. “Those numbers, the sooner they’re solid from the state, the sooner those numbers can be real.”
Jennifer Smith with the Michigan Association of School Boards said even though there is no penalty for missing the deadline, lawmakers should follow the law. She said her members are expected to have their budgets set so administrators can do their jobs.
“And they haven’t been able to start doing that because they don’t know how much funding they will have for teachers, for programming, for aids – all of those things that help our students learn,” she said.
John LaMacchia with the Michigan Municipal League said his local government leaders are not happy with the delay, but are also concerned about policy fights getting in the way of a final spending deal. He said local governments are anxious to see a trust fund established to direct some sales tax revenue to state aid for local governments.
“We’ve also asked very directly not to mix policy issues with this,” he said. “So, things like property tax reform and preemption of local zoning authority, those should be dealt with on their own merits.”
Although the budget deadline falls at midnight, legislative leaders have not ruled out continuing the session into Thursday, which bumps up against the July 4 holiday weekend.
