Publications from the 2008 Calendar Year

Federal Expenditures in Michigan
Report 348 ( March 2008 ) 28 pages

In 2005 (the most recent year for which data are available), Michigan had 3.41 percent of the nation’s population, but received only 2.84 percent of all federal expenditures and obligations paid to governmental, non-profit, and for-profit entities and individuals. During the same period, Michigan state and local governments received 3.0 percent of outlays from federal grants and payments programs. If this state had received a proportion of federal payments identical to its share of population, an additional $13.0 billion would have been transferred from the federal government to governmental and nongovernmental recipients in Michigan. Included in that $13.0 billion would have been $1.6 billion in payments to the State of Michigan and Michigan local governments.

This new report from Citizens Research Council analyzes federal payments for retirement and disability, grant awards, procurement contracts, salaries and wages, and other direct payments made to governmental and non-governmental entities, as well as federal grants and payments to state and local governments. The analysis identifies federal agencies from which payments are made, types of payments, specific federal programs that disproportionately benefited Michigan and federal programs that should be scrutinized to determine whether benefits to Michigan can be increased.

The analysis suggests that more could be done to maximize potential payments from existing federal programs and to refine existing, or shape new federal programs to better meet Michigan needs.

Improving the Efficiency of Michigan's Highway Revenue Sharing Formula
Note 2008-01, ( February 2008 ) 1 page

Summarizes Memo 1085

Improving the Efficiency of Michigan's Highway Revenue Sharing Formula
Memo 1085, ( February 2008 ) 14 pages

Michigan's state highway funding formula, which has changed only slightly since its adoption in 1951 fails to take into account highway use in distributing dollars to counties, instead using mileage. As a result, highway funding is skewed toward lesser traveled rural roads at the expense of heavily traveled urban routes.

This is the main finding of a new study by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan. The report, Improving the Efficiency of Michigan's Highway Revenue Sharing Formula, notes that, while mileage was once the only reasonable way of allocating highway dollars, it is now possible to use vehicle miles traveled as one part of the formula. Doing so could more equitably and efficiently allocate Michigan highway revenues, which are growing very slowly.

The study provides three illustrative scenarios demonstrating the kinds of shifts in funding that could be produced by injecting measures of road use into the formula, both with and without additional funding.

It is the CRC policy to make all publications online. If a document you desire is not yet online, please let us know of your desire. It can be put online with little turn around time. Documents may be requested at crcmich@crcmich.org.

Adobe Format

Downloadable CRC publications are provided in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (pdf). Access to these files requires use of Acrobat Reader. This software is available at no cost from the Adobe.

Acrobat and the Acrobat logo are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated..

Last Updated March 20, 2008