State Rep. Sharon McDonnell warns Troy of Medicaid-driven budget shifts, outlines local wins and bills
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Summary
State Rep. Sharon McDonnell told the Troy City Council that Michigan's 2025 legislative session and revenue shortfalls mean fewer laws passed and a large one-year budget transfer to cover Medicaid; she highlighted local impacts including a $400,000 cut to Troy Historic Village and proposed bills on I‑75 naming, school tech bonds and hyperbaric regulation.
State Rep. Sharon McDonnell, who represents most of Troy in the Michigan House, told the Troy City Council on Jan. 12 that changes in Lansing and weaker revenue forecasts are reshaping the state budget and will affect local projects.
“Only 74 public acts were signed into law compared to an average of 383 over the past 2 decades,” McDonnell said, describing a year in which the House changed control and fewer bills reached the governor. She said federal tariffs and other factors have driven repeated downward revisions to state revenue estimates.
McDonnell said the state budget moved $7,000,000,000 from other line items to cover Medicaid costs for 2026, and that there was no plan yet for 2027 to replace those dollars. She described a change in gas taxation that replaces the prior 6% sales tax on gasoline with a 21¢ per‑gallon excise tax, intended to stabilize road funding and reduce volatility tied to pump prices.
She highlighted local consequences of recent appropriations actions. McDonnell said an appropriations committee vote on Dec. 10 defunded multi‑year work projects, affecting two Troy institutions: the Troy Historic Village (about $400,000 in site‑upgrade funding) and the Troy Fire Department (about $1,900,000 for a ladder truck). She said the ladder truck funds had largely been spent before the cut but the village had been unable to begin work and was later told the funds were cut.
McDonnell summarized several items she plans to pursue this year: a bill to name a stretch of I‑75 after Specialist Keith Lavoie, proposed authorization for school districts to issue bonds for technology and cybersecurity upgrades, and a regulatory framework for hyperbaric oxygen facilities in response to a child’s death in Troy. She described the hyperbaric proposal as requiring higher fire‑prevention standards, training and informed consent.
Council members pressed McDonnell on details. She said estimates for the new public safety trust fund suggest Troy could receive roughly $95,000 but cautioned that the program’s distribution depends on population and crime metrics. On the gas tax and other revenue changes, she said city and school leaders should monitor fiscal‑year 2027 budget negotiations because some of the measures and stopgap funding are temporary.
McDonnell invited local officials to submit spending requests for the FY2027 cycle and said her office will continue to provide updates and constituent support.
