Proposed Budget Highlights
The governor noted her recommended budget includes investments to lower costs for working families, create more economic opportunity for workers, and provide children with what they need to succeed – including a great education and safe neighborhoods. Additionally, it builds on prior accomplishments with critical investments in education, public safety, infrastructure, and economic development. The governor also added that while the state enters fiscal 2024 with a multi-billion dollar surplus, it must stay focused on passing a fiscally responsible, balanced budget that strategically invests one-time resources and sets funds aside for a rainy day. Some highlights of the budget proposal include:
Lowering Costs
- Rolls back the retirement tax, saving half a million households $1,000 per year
- Expands the Working Families Tax Credit, providing 700,000 homes nearly $3,200 combined tax refunds
- Takes the first step towards pre-K for all of Michigan’s four-year-olds
- Provides up to a $3,000 refundable tax credit to child care and preschool teachers
- Temporarily pauses the Sales and Use Tax on the purchase of electric vehicles
Education – Getting Kids Back on Track
- K-12 Education: $900 million deposit into a new rainy day fund for schools; a 5 percent increase in base per-pupil funding; $318 million for school safety programs; $442.4 million to help students reach their full academic potential, including literacy efforts; $300 million for tutoring through the MI Kids Back on Track program; $300 million for student mental health; $257.3 million for pre-K for four-year-olds; $195 million for teacher recruitment and retention efforts; and $160 million for free breakfast and lunch
- Higher Education and Workforce Development: 4 percent ongoing increase for university and community college operations; $200 million to improve existing facilities and technology; $140 million to temporarily lower the eligibility age for Reconnect from 25 to 21, making tuition free associates degree or skills training more readily available; $100 million additional investment for the Michigan Achievement Scholarship; $75 million for the Reconnect Bachelor’s Degree Pathway Program; and $55 million for a Student Wellness Fund.
Public Health – Strengthening Families
- $210.1 million to increase wage support for direct care professionals
- $150 million for efforts to attract a Michigan-based insulin manufacturing facility
- $129.7 million for additional Medicaid health access
- $62.1 million to fund Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies
- $58 million to implement recommendations from the Racial Disparities Taskforce
- $30 million increase to support local health departments
Public Safety – Keeping Communities Safe
- $50.4 million to leverage the State Police Training Academy to serve as a criminal justice training hub to support realistic, multi-disciplinary training opportunities
- $36.6 million in new statutory revenue sharing dedicated specifically for public safety
- $18.2 million to provide in-service training to law enforcement officers
- $11.5 million to improve infrastructure at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base
- $10.8 million to establish the Office of Community Violence Intervention Services
- $10.4 million to improve safety and accountability in correctional facilities
- $9 million for a Michigan State Police Trooper Recruit School
Rebuilding Infrastructure
- Roads, Bridges, Transit, Electrification: $350 million in a reserve designed to leverage infrastructure dollars; $200 million investment supporting Michigan’s Bridge Building program; $160 million for Intermodal Capital Investment Grants; $65 million to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure; and $45 million for the Michigan Clean Fleet Initiative
- Housing: $212 million for residential energy efficiency improvements; $100 million for the Community Downtown Economic Development Program; $50 million in funding for the Revitalization and Placemaking Program; $50 million for the Housing and Community Development; and $15 million for workforce housing needs
- Water, Parks, Agriculture, Environment: $226 million to remove and replace lead service lines; $122.5 million to ensure the quality of drinking water; and $100 million to establish an environmental justice contaminated site clean-up fund
Economic Development
- $500 million annual deposit in the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund
- $200 million over 10 years for the Ongoing Clean Energy Supply Chain Tax Credit
- $200 million for the Michigan Regional Empowerment Program
- $135 million for the Michigan Main Street Initiative
- $15 million in federal funding to supplement state funding for Pure Michigan
- $10 million to support outdoor recreation businesses