(The Center Square) – Seven nonprofit foundations funded the Growing Michigan Together Council with $906,300 but aren’t mentioned in the final report.
Brittany Hill, the council’s communications director, told The Center Square the following foundations funded the effort to boost the state’s population:
C.S. Mott Foundation – $250,000Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation – $100,000W.K. Kellogg Foundation – $250,000The Skillman Foundation – $6,300The Kresge Foundation (pending receipt) – $100,000The Joyce Foundation – $100,000Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation – $100,000
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the C.S. Mott Foundation, which contributed nearly half of the amount, haven’t yet responded to a request for comment about the funding.
The council also received $2 million in the record $82 billion 2024 budget and five full-time positions to increase the state’s resident population.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tasked the commission with finding solutions to attracting residents.
The 86-page report developed over five months suggested new taxes to fix longtime infrastructure problems by raising revenue including vehicle miles travel fees and tolling as more drivers switch to electric vehicles, which weigh and tear up roads more but don’t pay gas taxes to repair them.
The Detroit News first reported the funding.
Republicans say the $82 billion 2024 budget is an unsustainable spending spree before newly proposed taxpayer-funded preschool for all and community college for all high school graduates- two goals targeted by Whitmer.
“Michigan cannot prosper while the government throws money at Democrat pork projects and burdens middle-class families with high taxes,” Rep. Joseph Fox, R-Fremont said in a statement. “How can the governor think that Michigan is becoming a more attractive place to live? Worse, most of the $82 billion went to big cities; rural and northern Michigan residents had to fight for the scraps, and I anticipate the same will occur this year. In Gov. Whitmer’s state government, big budgets are in style, and taxpayers have to foot the bill.”
The growing commission’s report follows Michigan’s falling economic status over 20 years. The Wolverine State now ranks 39th in personal income per capita among the 50 states.
