2004 House Bill 5517 ↩

House Roll Call 231: Passed

The House version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 General Government budget, which funds the Attorney General, Civil Rights Department, Civil Service Department, Executive, Legislature, Department of Management and Budget, Department of State, Department of Information Technology, and Department of Treasury. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/2003-HB-5608">House Bill 5608</a>.) This appropriates $2.021 billion in adjusted gross spending (funded from all sources, including special state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars, minus interdepartmental transfers), compared to $2.286 billion, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003. Of this, $345.2 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to the FY 2003-2004 amount of $355.1 million. Another $1.622 billion is from “restricted funds,” or earmarked tax and fee revenue. $1.135 billion of this budget is paid out in revenue sharing to local governments. The House version conforms to the governor's proposal to pay revenue sharing to counties out of a fund created by collecting 2004 county property taxes six months earlier, even though that plan appears to be dead (see 2004 Senate Bill 1112). It authorizes approximately $10 million less in adjusted gross spending than the governor recommended. However, the “bottom line” gross spending appears to show $49 million more, due to change in how the House version accounts for the state’s motor vehicle fleet expenses. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at <a href=“http://www.mackinac.org/4964”>Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge</a> at www.mackinac.org/4964.