The state budget process is typically over once the governor signs the plan approved by the Legislature. But this year, the governor cut funding for several critical programs in her quest to raise the gas tax by 45 cents per gallon. I have been working with my colleagues in the Legislature to reverse those cuts, and it’s important to understand just how much is at stake for Macomb County and the entire state of Michigan.

Last year, Macomb County received more than $1 million from the state for public safety initiatives that it stands to lose out on this budget year if funding vetoed by the governor is not restored.

One of the initiatives cut by the governor is called the county jail reimbursement program. Each year, Macomb County agrees to house people in the county jail who would normally be sent to state prison in exchange for funding. It’s supposed to be mutually beneficial – Michigan taxpayers save money when inmates are housed locally instead of in expensive state prisons and the county gets a funding boost for local public safety programs.

From October 2017 to September 2018, Macomb County received $1.2 million from this arrangement. Now, the governor is saying she won’t honor the state’s commitment. If her cuts aren’t reversed, Macomb County is going to be stuck spending local resources on inmates who should be in state prison, leaving less money for officers’ salaries, jail security and other public safety initiatives.

The governor also eliminated funding for secondary road patrol services. The program, created in 1978, provides funds that allow local sheriffs to hire deputies focused on patrolling local roads. Macomb County received $491,000 this past year. Without these funds in the new budget, it’s likely going to result in deputy layoffs and fewer officers patrolling our communities.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about these cuts is that both programs have always received broad, bipartisan support. So what reason could the governor have for cutting them? She says the cuts were made in attempt to get Republican legislators back to the negotiating table on road funding.

Just like the governor, I want to find a solution to fix the crumbling roads our families drive on every day. I’m not, however, willing to use vital public safety programs as bargaining chips in this debate.

The governor went too far with her cuts to public safety and other critical services. We must restore funding for these programs before road funding negotiations can resume in good faith.

###

State Rep. Diana Farrington is serving her second term in the Michigan House representing the 30th District, which includes the city of Utica and parts of Sterling Heights and Shelby Charter Township.