The 2025 state budget spends $200,000 on traffic control at the Michigan International Speedway, and a prominent policy advocate is waving a red flag.

“Those dollars are headed in the wrong direction,” John Mozena, president of the Center for Economic Accountability, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email. “It should be NASCAR compensating taxpayers for the costs its races are imposing on the surrounding community, not the other way around.”

When fans leave the speedway, state police provide traffic control services. Attendees pay admission fees, but Michigan taxpayers foot the bill for traffic control for up to 125,000 people leaving the track.

The events turn a quiet rural area into a giant traffic jam, Mozena said, and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing should bear the cost for traffic control.

“Last year, NASCAR reportedly brought in about $425 million in sponsorships from some of the biggest companies in the world, and it is looking to sign a new billion-dollar TV broadcast deal,” Mozena wrote. “That $200,000 from Michigan’s taxpayers is meaningless in terms of NASCAR’s corporate bottom line, and whatever legislators stuck that handout in the state’s budget should get black-flagged for being a danger to taxpayers.”

Mike McCabe, a retired undersheriff, spent more than 44 years at the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office after graduating from the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice in 1977.

McCabe said taxpayers shouldn’t pay overtime for the track.

“We don’t subsidize Pine Knob Music Theatre for the overtime for Deputies working there as an example,” McCabe wrote to CapCon. “The Illitch family pays for ALL of the overtime there.”

A review of state budgets shows taxpayers also paid for traffic control in 2007.

When Detroit hosted the NFL draft in 2024, roughly 775,00 people attended. The city paid for and deployed the public safety strategy, John Roach, the director of media relations for the Detroit mayor’s office told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

“Detroit's commitment to provide security was a central component of our successful bid for what ended up being the largest and most successful NFL draft ever, for the league, for the city and for our businesses,” Roach said.

Jackson Public Schools allocated about 80% of the district’s share of federal COVID money to personnel, documents obtained by Michigan Capitol Confidential show.

Michigan schools are nearing a Sept. 30 nationwide deadline to determine how to spend COVID-19 federal funds. A detailed list of spending priorities shows how the Jackson district allocated $22 million provided by American taxpayers. CapCon received the list in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The category ”teaching” accounted for $10.9 million, 49% of the total. Retirement benefits took the next-largest share, with $4.1 million for employer contributions to the state retirement system for school employees. Roughly $750,000 went to the employer’s share of the Social Security payroll tax.

Health care accounted for another $1.7 million. Most of that went to group health and accident insurance. The district spent $40,263 on contributions to health savings accounts and almost as much, $40,200.00, for cash-in-lieu of insurance.

The Jackson district also spent $83,883 on workshops, conferences, and professional education of its staff, plus $17,096 on dues and fees. It is common for districts or their employees to belong to various organizations such as the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals.

Textbook purchases came to $2.8 million.

Jackson Public Schools announced early school release Aug. 24 and 26, citing excessive heat. None of the $22 million in COVID spending went to air conditioning. Portions of every building have received new or updated air conditioning infrastructure in recent years, Jeff Beal, district superintendent, told CapCon in an email.

Proceeds from a 2018 bond issue financed those improvements, Beal said, but he added that there was not enough money to install air conditioning everywhere. “Especially large buildings like Jackson High School, Middle School at Parkside, Hunt Elementary or Northeast Elementary will take a significant upgrade in HVAC simply due to the architectural constraints of the buildings,” Beal said.

The district is working with TMP Architecture and Triangle Construction on a future bond proposal, likely to appear in 2025, Beal said. Some district buildings present unique HVAC challenges, including Jackson High School, which is almost 100 years old.