HUDSONVILLE, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Don’t expect a state budget for Fiscal 2021 on Governor Whitmer’s desk by the end of this month.
So says Roger Victory, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, chairing two subcommittees on Agriculture and Rural Development and General Government. Unlike last year, when the Executive and Legislative branches of state government clashed on a spending plan, which led to new legislation passed earlier this year that mandated a June 30th legislative passage date, the COVID 19 outbreak is the cause for not reaching this threshold on first asking.
“We are working with the House and the (Whitmer) Administration on this budget issue,” the first-term Republican from Hudsonville said on “WHTC Talk of the Town” during his monthly appearance on Monday, “but in order to meet that June 30th deadline, there are still a number of issues that need to be addressed, such as whether there will be additional federal dollars coming into play or not.”
The COVID 19-related executive orders that brought Michigan’s economy to a halt in March has created an estimated $6 billion budget deficit for the next two years, and by state law, Michigan’s budget must be balanced when the new fiscal year begins on October 1st. Victory didn’t give a time frame as to when such a deal could be reached.
