Mich. in jeopardy of losing out on federal highway dollars

Christine Rook
Lansing State Journal

DELTA TWP. - Some legislators and county officials fear the state is in jeopardy of losing federal highway money next year.

“It’s got to be a serious concern,” state Rep. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, said between conference sessions at the County Road Association of Michigan’s annual highway conference in Delta Township.

Casperson serves on the state House Transportation Committee. Attendees made comments this morning concerning the state’s ability to make use of federal money in the new fiscal year, beginning in October.

Michigan Department of Transportation officials were not immediately available for comment.

The federal government is projected to send $1.3 billion to Michigan next year. But some are concerned about whether the state has sufficient money to match some of that funding.

Casperson said he is concerned about the state’s ability to match all of its projected federal dollars next year in part because of what the state expects to spend on transportation is relatively flat when compared with current spending.

“We’re kind of going in a backward trend,” he said. [more here]

Also posted on Michigan Redneck II.

Casperson: Still room for reform in Michigan

• ESCANABA — State Rep. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, said government spending and programs need to be looked at closely.
• Casperson issued a statement after Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s 2008 State of the State address Tuesday night.
• “There’s been a lot of talk about reform in government and we’ve only been able to scratch the surface. I think we really need to take a serious look at that in the coming months on the regulatory side of it and on the tax side of it.
• “Something I’ve learned in being around Lansing for five years is that doing the same thing over and over again is not working, especially in Michigan with our economy.”
• Casperson said government agencies need to be looked at again.
• “My hope is that this year we can look for meaningful changes that can be made in what the government is doing. Everything involved with spending and programs needs to be looked at so the government can step up and lead by example. That might mean revisiting every state government agency and eliminating those that are outdated and cutting bloated, expensive hierarchies.” [more here]