The governor held a signing ceremony in Grand Rapids today for additional budget bills worth more than $600 million in spending.
The spending covers two fiscal years, and most of the money comes from the federal government.
It also includes $114 million dollars in debt forgiveness for school districts in Ypsilanti, Inkster, Pontiac, Muskegon Heights, and Benton Harbor.
“Some of these districts have been paying off debt for more than a decade,” Whitmer said. “Without today’s supplemental, Benton Harbor would have been paying off their debt through 2045-2046 school year. So today we’re slashing that.”
At the signing ceremony, Bishop Avery Burrell of Christ Temple Church in Muskegon Heights said the debt forgiveness will help his community recover from the financial problems that the Heights and other predominantly Black communities face.
“We have gone through a lot,” Burrell said. “We’ve been battered.”
Without access to finances, he said the Heights has struggled to keep up, despite efforts to manage its budget.
“What this means and the significance for our community is huge,” Burrell said. "It kind of breaks some of the stigma and some of the disgrace and discredit that the Heights has had.”
The supplemental spending bill also includes more than $250 million in state funding for capital improvement projects at colleges and universities throughout the state. That includes $30 million for the new Blue Dot Lab tech center at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids.
Full text and analysis of the legislation, House Bill 4292, is available on the Legislature’s web site here.
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