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The current proposal to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads could be too rich for the governor’s blood.
It includes using money generated from an increase in the gas tax and diesel tax along with taking $600 million from the general fund to pay for road repairs.
Governor Rick Snyder says $600 million is stretching it and he wouldn’t want to go any higher.
He’s worried taking that much money out of the pool shared by state agencies would force some to make significant cuts.
Snyder didn’t offer a dollar amount that would be more palatable.
Lawmakers will continue their back and forth on road funding when they return to Lansing next week.
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A recently released report, done by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, finds the state could be in a world of budgetary hurt if lawmakers move forward with taking $600 million out of the general fund to pay for road repairs.
Bob Schneider with the CRC says doing so would create a $482 million hole in the general fund budget in 2017, which would account for about 5 percent of the budget.
He says while the state is expecting to bring in some new money over the next few years it will also be paying for things it hadn’t been in the past, like an expansion of the Medicaid rolls.
Governor Rick Snyder has also raised concerns about taking that much money out of the general fund. He is worried too about the budgetary pressures it could create down the road.
