By Kathy Barks Hoffman
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Rick Snyder plans to make the unusual move of giving much of his budget presentation himself on Thursday, with his budget director playing a supporting role, the governor's spokeswoman said Monday.
Snyder will give the budget overview and talk about the tax changes he wants to make. Budget Director John Nixon will speak on budget specifics, while Lt. Gov. Brian Calley will discuss tax details, spokeswoman Sara Wurfel told The Associated Press.
The governor said Monday that, while cuts will be deep, he doesn't plan to lower Medicaid reimbursement rates for health care providers. The governor wants to keep the rates the same to help ensure continued care and access for patients. Some doctors have warned they would stop seeing Medicaid patients if reimbursement rates were cut further.
About 1.8 million Michigan residents get their health care coverage through Medicaid.
The budget presentation will take place Thursday morning to a joint session of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, the Senate Finance and the House Tax Policy committees. In past years, it was given by the budget director, and the governor usually wasn't in the room.
Michigan faces a $1.8 billion shortfall in the budget year that starts Oct. 1. Nixon told The Associated Press on Friday that budget cuts will be "substantial" in the proposal for the upcoming year, but that Snyder hopes to then rebuild investment in areas such as education as revenues increase.
One of the few areas that will see increased spending proposed is Medicaid, Nixon said. The number of children, seniors and disabled citizens who receive Medicaid is expected to increase in the year ahead.
Although the administration hasn't spoken much about what it plans to propose, Snyder has been clear that public employee compensation needs to be trimmed, possibly by increasing the share that workers pay for health insurance coverage. Calley has said $2 billion in business tax breaks are under review and may be on the chopping block, and tax exemptions for seniors and tax credits for the poor may be in the mix.
Snyder's plan to replace the Michigan Business Tax with a corporate income tax would strip $1.5 billion more from revenues. The governor wants to revamp the economically struggling state's tax structure at the same time he presents his budget proposal to get the state on stronger financial footing and make it more attractive to businesses and entrepreneurs.
Published: Wed, Feb 16, 2011
