County briefed on state budget changes: roads prioritized, one-time public-safety dollars, uncertainty over marijuana tax litigation
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Summary
A county staffer outlined major provisions in the recently passed state budget, including a gas-tax swap directing pump taxes to roads, a new local roads fund, onetime public-safety dollars to counties, larger cuts to some state programs and a pending court challenge to a wholesale marijuana tax.
A county staff member identified as Mike briefed the board on the recently enacted state budget, describing a tax “swap” and several programmatic changes that will affect county and local funding.
Mike told commissioners the legislature enacted a gas-tax/sales-tax change so taxes paid at the pump will be directed to roads, creating a new local roads fund; he said county revenue sharing remained flat year over year while cities, townships and villages saw some cuts. He also said a new wholesale marijuana tax was included and that litigation had been filed this week challenging the tax’s constitutionality.
On public safety, Mike said Berrien County is slated to receive “about a 147,000” in public-safety funds under the formula used in the budget, and he advised treating those monies as one-time dollars until related public-safety trust fund legislation is finalized. He said the budget included $17 million for prosecutors in 15 counties with the highest per-capita violent crime rate and estimated transit funding statewide could range from $48 million to $98 million as the program phases in.
Mike described broader reductions across the state budget, saying the enacted package is “about $1,500,000,000 less than last year's budget,” with large cuts concentrated in DHHS/Medicaid and the MEDC’s LEO programs (he said LEO/MEDC funding was down about $690,000,000 year over year). He also said the SOAR fund and certain place-making programs were not funded in this cycle, and business attraction funding was reduced from $100 million to $60 million.
On implementation questions commissioners raised — libraries, community-violence intervention, transit breakdowns and the timing of tax credits for overtime/tipping — Mike said he would provide a follow-up email with line-item detail and guidance from the state treasury when available.
On the marijuana tax litigation, Mike said: “Their argument is that this is a constitutional change…and the vote to increase those taxes requires a supermajority of lawmakers,” and that the case could create a hole in the state budget if a court invalidates the tax. He said county staff would monitor the litigation and provide details as they become available.
No formal board vote was taken; commissioners asked staff to provide the line-item follow-up needed for local planning.