LSJ Blogs: Just Asking

Some fishy news

Here's some sour information to start the weekend -- the invasive Asian carp is probably already in the Great Lakes. This is a bad fish and it likely will wreak havoc with the lakes' ecosystem.

Aren't you glad our federal lawmakers work so hard to conserve the nation's natural assets for future generations?

Mr. Cox, meet Mr. Brown

If Mike Cox wants to be governor of Michigan he should be more like Jerry Brown. How does a Michigan Republican attorney general benefit from being like a flaky former Democratic governor of California? Read on.

Finding $3 million

Finding $3 million out of a $115 million or so general fund budget might not seem that hard — until you actually look at the options facing the city of Lansing.

If anyone has a smart idea, get it over to City Hall quick.

First, not all spending is equal. For example, if your goal is to save people and jobs, you need to know that about 75 percent of the budget goes to people and their benefits. So, you would be cutting $3 million out of, what, $35 million or so. That’s much more daunting.

The strings strike again

In government, there’s money and there’s money.

Case in point: Ingham County is in the process of accepting a state grant that will fund a  sheriff’s deputy. Great news for crime prevention in the rural areas, right?

What's the lowdown on shootout?

The shootout over on Lenawee Street near MLK was eight or so blocks from house. Not surprisingly, I was curious as to what was going on. Is this a typical situation of violence — a drug deal gone bad, a domestic violence situation, etc. — that usually never touches those citizens who don’t deal drugs or wallow in violence.

If it’s typical, no worries. If it’s not, what should I and other neighbors be worried about?

Alas, everyone will stay in the dark for awhile.

No, I'm not kidding

Call this a quick weekend snack of outrage.

Click on this link at the Ingham County Web site. Scroll down to Item 9 of the County Services Committee agenda for next week. Gnash teeth.

I aim to have more on this in my column next week.

Being big on garage sales

When I saw a sign downtown advertising a big garage sale at the Lansing Center, I thought back to this piece at governing.com regarding a growing trend around the land.

That isn’t exactly the case, as I learned from one of the organizers, Penny McConnell.

Giving away the state

If you have any interest at all in understanding why Michigan’s fiscal house is in such disorder, just click on this chart at the Detroit Free Press.

The information in it came from the House Fiscal Agency. Apparently, HFA Director Mitch Bean uses the chart in presentations he makes to various groups. Presumably the folks at the State Capitol, or at least their staffs, have seen the chart.

Now, does it make sense to create a taxation scheme in which the value of the special exemptions and breaks exceed  the actual tax revenue — by $6 billion, no less? As recently as 1998, the tax collections were nearly $7 billion more than the value of the tax breaks.

BWL sets furloughs

The Board of Water and Light says it will require all of its non-union employees to take eight unpaid furlough days in the next seven months to help the public utility deal with a budget crisis.

Hmm. Isn’t this the utility that was doing so well that the appointed board had to give head guy Peter Lark a $49,000 raise in the summer of 2008?

Isn’t this the utility that signed a new contract with its union in 2008 that continued a trend of wage and benefit cost increases in the millions of dollars?

Michigan, enjoy that all-cuts approach

Get ready to see more of this Michigan: The city of Grand Rapids plans more than 100 layoffs, including dozens of cops and firefighters. Such is the world of the “all-cuts” approach to budgeting when local governments are beholden to the Legislature for key operating revenues.

And remember, Lansing is projecting a $3 million budget gap for the current year. I suspect the city can dodge layoffs, especially in public safety, but the grim numbers aren’t going to get better anytime soon.