A new billboard went up this week in Lansing at I-496 and Pennsylvania Avenue. Designed to be viewed by all public workers, media, and State Capitol denizens, the message is simple…
It’s interesting that this message from Michigan’s leading (and unified) business groups calls for “reforms” but not budget “cuts.” The business leaders are asking for money-saving reforms long touted by bipartisan interests in Lansing.
Consider, for example, the reforms pitched at last week’s annual meeting of the Citizens Research Council. The plan — called “Charting A Way Forward — A Path to Fiscal Stability for the State of Michigan” — is an easy-to-read summary of the two-year work of a bipartisan panel of business, labor, and other experts who looked deeply into the workings of state government.
Their conclusions echo those of many other groups over the past several years…
There remain hundreds of millions of dollars in possible state government reforms in areas such as prison sentencing and operations, school district consolidation, Medicaid, purchasing processes, and benchmarking public worker benefits to those available to their peers in other states.
In other corners in downtown Lansing, the many interest groups who rely on taxpayer funding to deliver education, local government services, and a social safety net have equally compelling arguments.
The Countdown to Chaos website is back up and running this fall and its member groups call attention to business groups’ own benchmarking study suggesting Michigan lags others states on key quality of life measures.
“If we want to return Michigan to prosperity, policymakers should spend more time thinking about how to restore our quality of life than about cutting state spending,” said Dan Gilmartin, CEO of the Michigan Municipal League.
Likewise, Kyle Caldwell, president and CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit Association, said: “Proposals to slash state support for transportation of seniors, Meals on Wheels, virtually eliminating early childhood programs and cutting out programs that help veterans should disturb every person in our state. Nonprofits leverage state and federal funding to provide the social safety net that protects life and health for thousands of Michigan communities. Without that state funding, our capabilities are seriously diminished. Michigan nonprofits need a reliable partner in state government to ensure our quality of life at the local level.”
Or, as the Detroit Free Press put it today, “If children are our future, Michigan has apparently decided it doesn’t want one.”
Here’s the deal…
The reform pleas of the business groups and the investment pleas of the service-providing groups are not mutually exclusive.
Lansing has the power (if not the will) to do both.
