Whitmer’s $83.5B budget won’t fix the roads, lawmakers say

Republican lawmakers are pushing back against a new budget that is on track to increase state spending by 47% since 2018 and contains no plan to fix the state’s roads.

Whitmer’s $83.5 billion proposal for the 2026 state budget adds $1 billion in spending to the current year’s total. That total is 47% higher than the $56.8 billion budget in 2018, the year before Whitmer took office.

Whitmer made fixing the roads a key part of her 2018 election campaign. Her next budget proposal does not contain any mechanism for achieving that goal.

The governor’s budget calls for spending increases, Rep. Donni Steele said in a press release, but it fails to address the road problem.

“The governor’s proposal includes a billion dollar increase to the state budget over last year, which includes 800 new state employees and no additional funding to fix local roads,” the Orion Township Republican said.

Spending on education is a key point of disagreement between Whitmer, a Democrat, and Republican legislators. Whitmer proposed increasing public school funding by $800 per pupil, with charter schools getting an $18 increase for each student.

“It’s outrageous and offensive that anyone would feel that charter school students are only worth about 2% of what other students are worth,” said Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, a charter school association, in an email to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Government waste should be cut so that Michigan families, many of whom who are considering leaving the state, can get tax cuts, said Rep. Parker Fairbairn, R-Harbor Springs

“People across Michigan are struggling right now, yet the governor continues to propose increased government spending instead of returning those tax dollars to the people who earned them,” Fairbairn wrote in an email to CapCon.

Other Republican members of the House called the overall budget bloated, but the parties could find common ground, Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton Township, said in a statement.

“Some of the governor’s recommendations fall right in line with the priorities Republicans in the House have been highlighting,” Bollin wrote, “making life more affordable, making sure our kids receive a quality education, and making our communities safer.” Bollin chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

The governor said that her budget plans will “lower costs and help Michiganders combat inflation, improving financial stability for residents.”

Lawmakers look forward to crafting the budget, according to Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I look forward to working with Gov. Whitmer to build on our past successes, and I welcome Chair Bollin to the budget process with the hope that we will approach it with the same sense of integrity, fiscal responsibility, and commitment to delivering for every Michigander,” Anthony wrote in an email to CapCon.

The budget continues to provide taxpayer-funded meals for all K-12 students and cover some of the cost of tuition for college students.

This is the kind of excessive government spending that can lead to an inflation increase, said Sen. Thomas Alberts, R-Lowell.

“Excessive government spending, both state and federal, is a major cause of the inflation that has hurt families in Michigan and across the nation the past few years,” Alberts said.

Michigan should pass a sustainable budget based on what the state collects and spends from its taxes and fees, said James Hohman, fiscal policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

“Lawmakers should pass a Sustainable Michigan Budget and increase spending by no more than inflation plus the growth of the state population,” he told CapCon.

Hohman suggested the state spend a maximum of $48.5 billion in state funds. Whitmer’s 2026 budget recommends spending $48.1 billion.