FY23 state budget includes 6% boost for county revenue sharing

In the wee hours on Friday, the Legislature finished the FY 2023 budget, which is set to begin on Oct. 1 of this year. Below are the major highlights, including a 6 percent (5% in the base and 1% one-time) increase in County Revenue Sharing. In addition, they passed a supplemental budget for FY22, included in which are items of importance to counties. 

FY22 Supplemental

• ARP – community policing grants for Wayne ($3M), Saginaw ($1M) and Genesee ($500,000) counties
• ARP – community policing competitive grants – $11 million
• Communication Radios and Tower – $1 million for radios in Midland County, $3 million for towers in Barry County and $4.8 million for towers in Isabella County
• Requires that grants be used for the construction of new towers or the augmentation of existing towers and associated equipment to support the integration of the county into the Michigan Public Safety Communication System (MPSCS) or to expand the interoperability of all local public safety entities within the county
• EMS scholarship and grant program – $30 million
• Raise the Age Fund Increase – $4 million
• Broadband equity, access and deployment – $5 million

FY23 Budget (by state department)

Agriculture

• Local conservation districts – $3 million
• Office of Rural Development Grants – $3 million for grants to rural communities, related to economic development, workforce development, affordable housing, infrastructure, education and high-speed internet access
• County fairs – $500,000 for fair capital grant program (a reduction of almost $2 million from current year)
• Economic development for food and agriculture industries – $50 million, of which $12 million is set aside for improvements to the Eastern Market in Detroit

Corrections

• Jail reimbursement – $1 million to reimburse counties who housed felons in their jails due to the department’s closed intake of prisoners during COVID. (rate is $80 per offender per day; inmates paid for through the county jail reimbursement program are not eligible for this payment)

Energy, Great Lakes and Environment

• Contaminated site cleanups – $10 million
• Watershed Council grants – $600,000
• Environmental health – $7.9 million for water supply oversight and support for local health departments in monitoring and testing drinking water
• Municipal Assistance for FTEs to increase loan processing staff and access to federal water infrastructure loans for local communities – $5.1 million
• Water State Revolving Funds – $120 million gross to continue funding the state’s water state revolving fund program
• Private well testing – $5 million in one-time funding for grants to local health departments to provide free or low-cost water testing to private well owners

Labor and Economic Development

• Michigan Infrastructure Grants – $212,800 for grants for infrastructure
• Economic Development and Workforce Grants – $251.5 million
• Blight Elimination Program – $75 million to address blighted properties across the State
• Going Pro – $15 million
• Pure Michigan – $40 million
• Nonprofit Relief Grants to nonprofit community service organizations – $50 million

Treasury (General Government)

• Revenue Sharing to Counties – $245.8 million, which is a 6 percent increase (1% is one-time increase, while 5 percent is designated as ongoing)
• Pensions – $750 million for grants for local retirement systems that are less than 60 percent funded
• ARP relief grants – $50 million 

Health and Human Services

• Medicaid primary care rates – $56.1 million to increase them
• Behavioral health capacity and access initiatives – $47.3 million
• Medicaid reimbursement for Community Health Workers – $28.3 million
• Child and adolescent health centers – $25 million to increase funding
• Child care – $10.5 million to provide a 5 percent reimbursement increase for residential child caring institutions and a 12 percent increase to private residential juvenile justice providers
• Guardian and conservator reimbursement rates – $5 million to increase them
• Medicaid Mental Health Local Match – $5.1 million to replace a like amount of local funding used for Medicaid mental health supports and services (amount would reflect the third year of phasing out the local match portion over a 5-year period)
• Behavioral Health Inpatient Capacity and Operations – $41 million and authorizes 87 FTE positions to increase capacity at Hawthorn and to reimburse private providers of intensive psychiatric treatments
• Jail Diversion Fund – $10 million
• Student loan repayment for behavioral health professionals – $10 million
• Non-State Behavioral Health Facility Capacity – $178.6 million
• Clinical and CMHSP Integration Readiness Initiatives – $50 million for grants to facilities and providers that wish to clinically integrate physical and behavioral health services and providers and to CMHSPs for system, IT, staffing, and administrative improvements for integration readiness (funds are not available for expenditure until legislatively transferred)
• State Nursing Home Surveyors – $1.6 million and 10 FTEs for education and consultation activities to improve care at skilled nursing facilities

Judiciary

• Statewide Judicial Case Management System – $150 million for the cost of developing a single, statewide judicial case management system (Currently, there are 242 trial courts using and funding more than 16 case management systems and 150 computer systems. The Trial Court Funding Commission recommended that the state provide all court technology needs for trial courts, including case and document management services, and the Supreme Court recently ordered that local trial courts submit all case data in a uniform manner. Funding would support data management efforts and consistent implementation of newer technologies among trial courts; prohibits funds from being used to supplant the current user fee system and administrative purposes unrelated to the system; requires the system to comply with all security measures and restrictions and to be hosted in a secure cloud by an experienced vendor; requires implementation status report.)

Veterans Affairs

• Grand Rapids Home for Veterans – $6.5 million
• Veterans Suicide Prevention Outreach – $1.2 million for an outreach campaign targeting current and former servicemembers and their families on reducing suicide incidents

Natural Resources

• Off-road Vehicle Trail Improvement Grants – $6.4 million to increase funding for the off-road vehicle trail improvements initiative

State Police

• Secondary Road Patrol Grant Program – $15 million

Transportation

• County Road Commissions Restricted Fund – $56.3 million
• Airport Safety Improvement Program – $33.9 million
• Local Federal Aid Road and Bridge Construction – $15.2 million
• IIJA Airport Infrastructure Grants – $2.2 million
• Technical Assistance, Planning, and IIJA Match Grants – $25 million to help local units to plan and match resources for IIJA grants
• Electric Vehicle Study – requires the department to study the impact on revenue resulting from the integration of electric vehicles on Michigan roadways

For more information on the state budget, contact Deena Bosworth at bosworth@micounties.org.