A target agreement for the 2014-2015 fiscal
year budget was signed by Governor Rick Snyder, House Speaker Jase Bolger
(R-Marshall), and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) on
Thursday. All of the state departments and major budget areas are addressed in
the agreement, which lays out how much money each group will receive. The
agreement provides guidelines for finishing the budget to Appropriations
subcommittee chairs in both the House and the Senate. The goal is for the
budget to be finished before June 12th when session is expected to
adjourn for the summer. In the agreement $10.18 billion is appropriated to the
General Fund
Three budget areas have targets of over $1 billion,
with Community Health, Corrections, and Higher Education receiving $3.24,
$1.98, and $1.21 billion, respectively. The ten areas with budgets in the
hundreds of millions are: Human Services at $995.5 million; Technology,
Management and Budget with $479.1 million; State Police at $384.2 million;
Transportation has $286.2 million; the Strategic Fund has $244.6 million;
$186.5 is planned for Judiciary; Community Colleges are slated for $167.1
million; the Legislature is expecting $127.4 million; Treasury is at $117
million; and the School Aid Fund is targeted at $114.9 million.
There are ten more areas that are budgeted in
the tens of millions of dollars in the agreement. These areas are Education
with $82 million; Military and Veterans Affairs at $49.2 million; Natural
Resources receiving $48.6 million; Agriculture and Rural Development at $45.9
million; Environmental Quality coming in at $40.9 million; Licensing and
Regulatory Affairs has $40 million; the Attorney General is expecting $38.3
million; the Secretary of State will receive $17.5 million; the Legislative
Auditor General’s office is scheduled for $14.9 million; and the Civil Rights
budget area can expect $13.5 million according to the agreement. Only the
Executive branch has a target in the millions with $5.9 million expected to come
their way and Insurance and Financial Services, with $150,000, is the only
budget area expected to receive under $1 million.