Michigan is surpassing revenue predictions by around 6.8-billion dollars for the current and next couple fiscal years. That’s the conclusion of the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference on Friday, May 20.
The conference is a semi-annual meeting between the legislative fiscal agencies and the governor’s administration. It gives lawmakers a dollar amount to work with when crafting the state budget.
State Treasurer Rachel Eubanks says this was one of the hardest times for the group to reach an agreement.
"We’re seeing very good news today," Eubanks said. "I think we just have to continue to maintain a fair sense of caution as we look at the immediate and longer term as we’re dealing with really unprecedented territory in this uncertain economy."
Republican Senator Jim Stamas chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. He’s pushing for long-term caution.
“If we are making investments, we want them to be sustainable as far as a longer-term investment with one-time dollars that are continued ongoing costs as we look at 2023 and 2024," Stamas said.
Experts say Michigan is on pace for record sales and use tax collection, but inflation and other unknowns are still looming.