Budget complete, more work to be done

Having spent the year going to numerous city halls, township boards and school committee meetings and delivering what seemed to be a continuous stream of bad news, the latest forecasts coming on the heels of our finished budget continue to show a deteriorating revenue picture for the State of Michigan. Receiving a daily dose of bad news can certainly feel disheartening, but we won’t be able to fix Michigan without looking its troubles squarely and objectively in the eyes. It may not be what we want to hear, but it’s certainly what we need to hear.
 
A senior fiscal analyst and economist for the Council of State Governments, Sujit Retna,  recently reported that while states have weathered recessions before that the one we’re in now is far worse than anything we’ve seen since the Great Depression. According to CSG the recession began in December of 2007 and will continue to wreck state budgets going into the 2011 fiscal year and will likely lead to permanent changes in state government finances and services. “The scope and scale of services state and local governments previously provided to citizens will be vastly reduced,” said Retna. “States will just not have the revenue to sustain programs.”
 
That it because so much of Michigan’s revenue is based on income, property values, and sales tax, which in net is falling by even historic standards. And we can’t, and shouldn’t, encourage people to spend money they don’t have or buy houses they can’t afford. I will soon be bringing Michigan House fiscal analyst Mitch Bean to Clinton and Gratiot counties on November 16 and 17 so that citizens can get firsthand information on the numbers and outlook for Michigan.  Bean is nonpartisan, and his analysis and numbers are the same ones I look at when having to make decisions in the Legislature.
 
While we all know that Michigan is currently facing extremely challenging economic times, I have found that Bean’s presentation gives an even broader understanding of how Michigan’s current recession is truly different than even the rest of the nation’s. We simply have no choice but to revisit our notion of what constitutes core governmental services and to finally establish the real reforms that are necessary to stabilize the state and turn things around. We can get through this and we will, and we must remember that generations before us have gone through far worse, but there is no value in pretending that our current situation is anything like others we’ve experienced over the past 70 years.

I hope your schedule will allow you to attend either of the two meetings and I look forward to seeing you there.
 
Clinton County RESA, 1013 S. US Highway 27, St. Johns, Monday, Nov. 16, 6:30-8:30 PM
 
Ithaca Community Center, 120 N. Maple Street, Ithaca, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6:30-8:30 PM