Sorry to rain on the multi-billion-dollar parade, but the problem with the federal stimulus money that may soon flow into Lansing is it takes elected leaders’ eyes completely off the fundamental need for structural reform in Lansing.
The state budget is hundreds of millions in the red this year and will be billions in the red in near-term years without a complete reconsideration of the overall role, purpose, and priority of pretty much ever government program.
Many reform ideas are on the table, as we catalog almost every week in Fresh Thoughts. Many more are coming from a bipartisan group of business leaders who’ve looked at every aspect of state government over the past year to find $1.5-3 billion in potential savings. They’re scheduled to issue their report this spring.
But all most folks want to talk about in Lansing in this late-winter deep-freeze is the thawing effect of the stimulus money. Click here for a spreadsheet of some 16,000 requests for the money. The spending ideas range from $300 in bike racks in Lapeer to, $4 billion to “Create a Michigan Energy Conservation Corps (MECC) to make Michigan schools, public buildings and low-income private homes more energy efficient and, along the way, save massive amounts of energy and train and employ thousands of unemployed.”
No one’s sure who’s going to get funding, or how much. Meantime, reform is in danger of taking a long ride in the back seat…
“There are two levels of our concerns about how the stimulus is used: One, that it will plug holes and provide legislators with opportunity to delay real structural reform for at least another year … and secondly, that it might be used to create new programs that have no dedicated source of ongoing funding,” Sarah Hubbard, vice president at the Detroit Regional Chamber, told Crain’s Detroit Business.
