In last week’s column, I criticized Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposal to cut the office of the Auditor General budget by 28 percent. The reason I took issue with the proposed cut is because the auditor general actually saves taxpayers money by making sure that government programs are operating as intended.

One example I gave is that the auditor general exposed billions lost due to fraud and improper unemployment payment during the pandemic.

Since writing that piece, the governor’s administration has said that the figure in her proposed budget was only a placeholder, and that the final number will get worked out in negotiations. A reporter on WKAR’s “Off The Record” called the proposed cut “a bargaining chip.”

The $8.3M cut would provide negligible savings to the state in comparison to the approximately $80B budget. But it would seriously undermine the ability of the office to provide necessary oversight. 

That’s why it’s important we air these kinds of differences. The governor’s administration proposed a substantial cut to an office that provides crucial oversight of her administration. Now after public criticism, they seem to be walking that back. That’s how it’s supposed to work in a representative democracy.