New Michigan budget deal targets roads, bridges and adds more than $1B for child care

Detroit Free Press - 9/21/2021

LANSING — Fixing Michigan roads and bridges is a major focus of a nearly $70-billion 2022 state budget expected to pass the Legislature and be sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week, officials said Tuesday.

And the spending plan includes more than $1 billion to expand child care in Michigan, much of it funded with federal coronavirus relief money.

Lawmakers, who must pass a budget by Oct. 1 or face a partial state government shutdown, released proposed budgets for state agencies and higher education Tuesday afternoon after GOP leaders reached an agreement with the administration of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer late last week. The Legislature passed, and Whitmer signed into law, the K-12 school aid budget much earlier, in July.

Though officials described the budget agreement as bipartisan and historic, it leaves them with plenty of more work to do. Assuming Tuesday's bills are passed this week, as expected, that will leave about $7.5 billion in federal relief money still to be appropriated, said Kurt Weiss, a spokesman for the State Budget Office. That money, mostly allocated to Michigan under President Joe Biden's American Rescue plan, will be appropriated through supplemental spending bills that are still pending, Weiss said.

And there could be still more money coming for Michigan, as Biden continues to try to get a $1-trillion infrastructure bill through Congress.

Spending prop in the 2022 budget includes:

The crumbling Miller Road bridge that is crucial to the Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn would be among the projects funded in the 2022 budget, said Whitmer spokesman Bobby Leddy. But a figure for total capital spending on roads and bridges in 2022 and details on which other local bridges and dams are targeted for repair were not immediately available.

More: State House OKs $16.7B school aid plan eliminating funding gap for school districts

More: Whitmer budget to include $300M to repair, replace crumbling Michigan bridges

Whitmer said in a news release that funds are also allocated in the budget to improve water infrastructure around the state and to help local communities recover from recent flooding.

"Supporting thousands of good-paying jobs, fixing crumbling roads and bridges, and ensuring everyone's safety on the road has been one of my top priorities since day one," Whitmer said.

"More good news for infrastructure is on the horizon as we will continue in this spirit of collaboration and work together to invest the billions in federal dollars we have from the American Rescue Plan and the billions more we are expected to receive from the bipartisan federal infrastructure bill. Let's keep fixing the damn roads together."

State Budget Director David Massaron said the budget "will help Michigan emerge as an even stronger state and it provides the type of investments that will foster real and lasting improvements to support Michigan's families and businesses."

Capital spending on state roads and bridges was $1.6 billion in 2020 and $1.3 billion in 2019, said Jeff Cranson, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation. Projected figures for 2021 and 2022 were not immediately available.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.

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