LANSING, Mich. — After the governor signed the fiscal year 2023-24 state budget on Monday, Sen. Joseph Bellino highlighted his work to secure workforce development funding for Adrian while maintaining that the overall budget spent too much and is unsustainable.
“As I said when the Democrats’ passed their first plan in May, I cannot support a spending spree that focuses more on growing the size of government instead of supporting struggling families and improving our communities,” said Bellino, R-Monroe. “Although I did support many parts of the budget plan — like more funding for job training and K-12 education — this bloated budget is full of pork projects that don’t help Michigan workers or families or give taxpayers a long-term return on their investment, so I could not support it.”
During the budget process, Bellino was able to secure $10 million for a transformational workforce development center in Adrian.
“We worked hard to secure this important investment in workforce development, and I applaud the governor for keeping her word about not line-item vetoing this funding,” Bellino said. “This is the type of investment — one that creates a positive impact on our people and in our communities — that we should be using our historic surplus to make.”
The total FY 2024 state budget is nearly $82 billion. On Monday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed House Bill 4437, the general omnibus budget bill funding all non-education segments of state government. She previously signed Senate Bill 173, the school aid omnibus budget bill providing funding for the state’s K-12 schools as well as the state’s 15 public universities and all local community colleges.
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