State Rep. Greg Alexander today voted to advance a House budget plan that respects taxpayers and delivers on local projects.

The $78.5 billion plan funds priorities like road repairs, tax cuts to help working families, a new Public Safety Trust Fund to help protect communities and support for students.

“Our budget is realistic, responsible and balanced,” Alexander said. “It doesn’t rely on nickel and diming families and small business owners to cover increased spending. This plan eliminates billions in waste, fraud and abuse to truly deliver a better product for taxpayers who help fund state government. Issues like corporate welfare, government jobs that are budgeted but not filled, and political handouts have been problems for years and have simply been ignored. We did a deep dive with over 130 hours of public hearings to go line by line, find savings for taxpayers and put tax dollars towards priorities that an overwhelming majority of people in our state share.”

Alexander specifically fought for a $1.17 million investment within the budget for the village of Carsonville for water system improvements. The funding will go to the construction of two new wells on village-owned property, installation of a water main to connect the new wells to the existing water treatment plant for the village, and upgrades to the plant’s chemical feed, electrical and control systems.

The budget comes after a previously passed House K-12 budget plan from June that allocates $21.9 billion to schools – more than the Senate or governor’s respective plans. The House’s K-12 plan increases per-pupil funding from the current $9,608 to $12,000 and moves away from Lansing’s one-size-fits-all mandates by loosening restrictions on how schools can use the funding. This flexibility will allow school districts to meet their unique needs and put additional resources into free school lunch for all students, better transportation options, new textbooks, before and after school programs, and more.

Alexander noted that state spending has increased by over 40 percent since the governor took office in 2019. She added positions for 1,500 more state bureaucrats over the last two years and has proposed another 900 positions this year. The House budget cuts 4,300 “phantom” positions that state departments ask for but don’t fill, freeing up $560 million and redirecting it to other needs. The House budget also eliminates $1.27 billion in political giveaways that have been handed out year after year with no accountability.

“When I talk with people across our region, they don’t say ‘you know what my family or our community could really use? More state workers,’” Alexander said. “They want to make sure their children are in a position where they can thrive in the classroom. They want good local roads and they want to feel safe in their neighborhoods. They want a return on their tax dollars they can see and feel. Our budget addresses these needs and has a responsible roadmap for how to fund it all.”

The budget plan now advances to the Senate for consideration.