By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – School officials will have to wait to hear Sen. Ron Jelinek's plan for financing school infrastructure improvements.
Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, said last August before the primary elections he would present in early 2007 bills to ease the ways in which schools secure funding for capital improvements. However, when asked about the plans Monday night in Niles, Jelinek said he was delaying the announcement because of the financial burdens now facing lawmakers in Lansing.
"No dates yet," Jelinek said on when he plans to introduce the legislation. "Because of the budget problems and things we're trying to balance it all at the same time. I certainly haven't forgotten it. I'm very anxious and I want to see it happen soon."
News came last week from Lansing of the state's large budget deficit. Estimates so far are varied, but according to an Associated Press story published Jan. 18 in the Detroit Free Press, Michigan is facing a combined general fund and school aid fund shortfall of more than $800 million for this fiscal year. Middle Cities Education Association (MCEA) stated in a letter to school superintendents last week the School Aid Fund (SAF) is short about $377 million, which means schools could miss out on receiving more than $200 per pupil.
The treasury department is still figuring the exact numbers, and then it must notify the state's budget director. There is no timeframe by which the budget director must inform the legislature of the exact deficit, but once the news is passed along lawmakers have 30 days or six session days – whichever is more – to address the shortfall or the budget is implemented as is.
"We're going to be talking about that more and more this week and next week. We've got the Single Business Tax to worry about and we're going to start addressing that," Jelinek said. "I think that the senate Republicans will be coming out with a plan maybe this week with what our ideas are."
The Single Business Tax was scheduled to expire in 2009, but lawmakers, largely led by Republicans, voted to end the tax package December 2007 without a plan to replace the $1.9 billion of revenue. Jelinek defended the move Monday and said it was not premature.
"It's fine. We're still collecting it until the last day of December, so that means that we have until then to finalize the new one, whatever it is," he said. "Hopefully we can [find a replacement] sooner rather than later. The sooner the better because there are businesses around the country looking for a place to land and they won't land here until they know the uncertainty of taxation so it's important to get it done as soon as we can."
Rep. Neal Nitz, R-Baroda, said he hopes to have a replacement tax in place by late summer or early fall "so the business community will know what to expect that's coming down the road the first of the year."