By Kathy Barks Hoffman
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Utah's top budget officer has been hired to serve a similar role in Michigan, where he will tackle the state's looming $1.7 billion deficit, Michigan Gov.-elect Rick Snyder said Monday.
John Nixon is leaving his job as executive director of the Utah Governor's Office of Planning and Budget to join the Snyder team. He'll start Jan. 1, taking over a job now done for Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm by former state lawmaker Robert Emerson.
The nonpartisan Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency estimates the state could face a shortfall approaching $1.7 billion in the budget year that starts Oct. 1, and Nixon said he knows his new job will be tough.
"Michigan has taken a lot of good steps in looking at the budget, but certainly there's a pretty tall order to deal with that budget gap," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "There's going to be some very difficult, challenging decisions to make."
Currently president of the National Association of State Budget Officers, the 38-year-old Nixon is a certified public accountant -- like Snyder -- and was named CFO of the Year in 2008 by Utah Business Magazine.
"John Nixon is well respected by his peers across the country," said Mark Murray, a former Michigan budget director from 1995-98 who serves as vice chairman of the Snyder Transition Committee. "While every state is different, the fundamental questions of Medicaid, welfare, school funding, corrections and transportation are very similar across states. John is an excellent choice for this crucial role."
Snyder said Nixon will "work with us to bring fiscal responsibility, stability, transparency and the citizens' priorities to state government."
Utah has faced its own deficits in recent years as revenue shrank 20 percent. Nixon said public education was cut 6 percent two years ago but was left unchanged in the latest budget.
"The priority out here has been protecting K-12 education (and) protecting higher education as well," he said.
Jonathan Ball, who heads the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Analyst Office in Utah, said Nixon has "the right personality" to work well with lawmakers and Snyder administration officials on the budget.
"We haven't always seen eye to eye, but he doesn't let that get in the way," Ball said of Nixon. "He's not confrontational about things. He's willing to work through issues."
Snyder has said he wants to deal with the deficit by cutting state spending, trimming state employee compensation and ending some tax exemptions. He also wants to eliminate the Michigan Business Tax and replace it with a corporate income tax, which could deepen the shortfall by as much as $1.5 billion.
The Ann Arbor venture capitalist takes office Jan. 1. His administration must present a budget proposal by mid-March.
Published: Wed, Dec 1, 2010
