The chances for serious change in Lansing looked good at the beginning of the year. The governor was freshly elected to her second and final term and therefore had little to lose in pursuing transformational change of state and local government. The Senate Majority Leader and House Speaker were both new to their jobs, but seemed similarly reform-minded and eager to work together. And the governor had a clear, consensus roadmap for change from a bipartisan group of experienced, statewide civic leaders who called for many reforms while soberly acknowledging a tax increase would be necessary to preserve essential state services.

Nine months later, after much thunder and lightning, we have tax increases, a balanced budget but very little reform. And nothing close to transformation.

The budget headaches continue, with state spending projected to outpace spending for years to come. Now we're heading into a fresh election year in which the State House will once again be up for grabs and very likely politicized to the hilt from now thru next November.

It all adds up to missed opportunity, Phil Power writes this week.

We could pile on the paragraphs. But, to be brief, here are just three of many fundamental reform issues leaders in Lansing could have, but didn't, adequately address this year...

1. Corrections. At $2.1 billion, the overall prison budget is 6 percent higher than last year even though there are 1,500 few prisoners due to some early releases. Democrats want to cut costs through sentencing reform. Republicans want to cut costs through privatization and other efficiencies. Both options can be pursued with all deliberate speed.

2. Public Sector Pay & Benefits. At a time of waves of layoffs and pay and benefits cuts for many Michigan workers, this year's budget includes $147 million in pay and benefits increases for state government workers. The governor's emergency financial advisors called for benchmarking of public sector benefits issues against the private sector. Instead, compensation increases went through without intense scrutiny.

3. Stabilized Business Tax Climate. As the governor's emergency financial advisors warned last winter, "using quick-fix tax increases to solve only the two-year crisis and dodging overall reform of state taxes simply postpone the day of reckoning and leave Michigan without a long-term cure for its financial instability." Yet the Legislature passed a middle-of-the-night, arbitrary sales tax on a bizarre mix of services at a rate three times higher than the broad-based, low-rate service tax originally proposed by the governor. So, we're no closer to resolution than last November, when the Center for Michigan brought together all interested parties in a one-day town hall meeting on state tax reform. The consensus from that meeting: we need a future tax structure that is broad-based, low rate, and accurately reflects the dynamic 21st Century economy. Instead, we have outraged business groups pushing hard for repeal and regional economic development gurus once again shaking their heads at the tax liability uncertainty that drives away potential business expansion and relocation to Michigan.

Businesses might stay away, but the fundamental reform issues won't.