Tuesday, March 11, 2008

This is how state government does business

HB5221 - Introduced on September 15, 2007, to provide the “template” or “place holder” for a Fiscal Year 2007-2008 capital outlay budget. This bill contains no appropriations, but may be amended to include them. It was introduced two weeks before the Oct. 1, 2007 deadline for adopting a 2007-2008 budget, with no agreement in sight regarding how to close a $1.7 billion gap between desired spending and expected revenue in this and preceding year’s budgets. The bill could be a “vehicle” for an eventual solution, or could become a short term “continuation budget” if a deal is not reached by Oct. 1.

The Detroit News did a story on this capital outlay project. It is all for public university buildings. Read the story below.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/SCHOOLS/803030377
YPSILANTI -- After a funding dry spell, the state is gearing up for the largest higher education building boom ever in an effort to kick-start the economy and replace some deteriorating campus buildings.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has recommended nearly $1 billion in construction projects at 10 universities and 15 community colleges, including a biology building at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, a biomedical research building at Wayne State University and expansion of the engineering and plant sciences buildings at Michigan State University.

I also not the following from the University of Michigan endowment website:
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan's endowment grew from $5.7 billion to $7.1 billion in the 2007 fiscal year, benefiting from a 25.6 percent investment return and strong contributions from alumni and other donors, according to the annual Report on Investments presented by Regent Rebecca McGowan, chair of the Finance, Audit and Investment Committee, to the Regents at its meeting today (Oct. 25, 2007).


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