As the Michigan Legislature moves closer to adopting a state budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, challenges to two local agencies appear to be headed toward resolution. Governor Jennifer Granholm is negotiating an agreement on the future role of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, and a joint legislative conference committee is expected to restore most, if not all, of the $1.5 million state appropriation to the Mackinac Island State Park Commission.

Funding for the Newberry Correctional Facility and Camp Manistique was tentatively restored in legislative budget negotiations last Friday, September 9.

Somewhere along the line, the state must trim more than $1 billion from a deficit budget.

In February, Governor Jennifer Granholm proposed cutting the $1.5 million state appropriation to the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and in August, Michigan Department of Transportation Director Gloria Jeff removed major decision making powers from the Mackinac Bridge Authority, including investment and insurance coverage.

This week, Mackinac Bridge Authority Chairman Bill Gnodtke said he and Governor Jennifer Granholm may have reached an agreement, in principal, as to the Authority’s future role, but not all members of the Authority have seen it. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) also will have some input, presumably.

On Monday, September 12, Liz Boyd, the Governor’s press secretary, told The St. Ignace News the details of the agreement would be made available soon.

“The goal of the agreement will be to continue the traditional decision making role of the Authority in matters relating to the Bridge,” she said.

Mr. Gnodtke added, “I believe that the Governor wants to restore the traditional role of the Authority. We share that belief, and as soon as I’m able to receive input from the other five appointed members of the Authority, I’ll be getting back to the Governor’s office to bring this thing to a conclusion.”

Resolution comes as welcome news to State Senator Jason Allen (R-Traverse City), who hosted a public meeting on the issue in St. Ignace Thursday, September 1.

“We are pleased to see the governor is taking actions to rectify the decisions of Michigan Department of Transportation and restoring the Bridge Authority’s power,” said Jeremy Hendges, an Allen assistant.

Both the Mackinac Bridge Authority and the Mackinac Island State Park Commission are defined in statutes as Type One Transfers, and have benefited in the past with relative autonomy from state bureaucratic pressure. They are bipartisan boards whose members are appointed by the Governor for six year terms and operate somewhat independently under their overseeing agencies, Michigan Department of Transportation for the Bridge Authority and History, Arts and Libraries for the State Park Commission.

The Mackinac Island State Park Commission operates Mackinac State Historic Parks, which includes Fort Mackinac and roughly 80 percent of the landmass on Mackinac Island, Colonial Michilimackinac and adjacent sites in Mackinaw City, and Historic Mill Creek, a reconstructed Revolutionary War-era sawmill on the way to Cheboygan.

The fate of the Mackinac State Historic Parks budget and programs soon will be in the hands of a budget conference committee, yet to be formed. The final 2006 budget must be adopted by the end of September, before the state’s new fiscal year, which begins October 1.

Since February, when Governor Granholm removed $1.5 million from the 2006 fiscal year budget, park commissioners and staff have been lobbying to get the funding returned, while examining program cuts and fee increases to absorb some of the blow. In June, State Representative Fran Amos (R-Waterford) held a public meeting on Mackinac Island to discuss the matter.

“I am going to save it,” she told The Saint Ignace News then.

The efforts may be paying off.

“As of Tuesday morning, it appeared that the conference committee will fund us at $1.5 million, the same number of dollars as we had in FY05,” said Mackinac Island State Park Commission Chairman Dennis Cawthorne as The St. Ignace News went to press.

The total 2005 budget for Mackinac State Historic Parks was $5.7 million, which includes the $1.5 million state appropriation. The rest is earned through park fees and admissions to the historic sites.

After the administration suggested the state appropriation be eliminated, the Senate, earlier this year, reinstated it in its budget package, but the House did not, so the two bodies must now hash it, and other differences, out in conference.

Three state representative and three state senators will make the final determination on the Mackinac Island State Park Commission appropriation, said Mr. Cawthorne.

Greg Bird of the state’s budget office also said on Monday that the conference committee will be led by Tom George (R-Kalamazoo), who chaired the Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL) appropriation subcommittee in the Senate. Mrs. Amos chairs the same subcommittee in the House and also will be on the conference committee. The rest of the committee will be appointed by Speaker of the House Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) and Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming).

“Hopefully, the issue will be resolved fairly soon,” said Mr. Bird.

The conference committee’s recommendation for the state park appropriation and 2006 HAL budget will be voted on once more by the two legislative bodies. If the budget passes, it moves to the Governor’s office for her approval. If the agreed upon budget fails, it is returned to the conference committee for additional work.

Earlier this year, when trying to make up the lost state appropriation, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission could come up with only $202,500 in increased fees and earned revenue, leaving a shortfall of $1,296,000. Park officials have been looking at cutting some historic interpretation and public education programs, and putting some preservation work on hold, if the appropriation is not restored. Michigan’s oldest surviving structures are at Fort Mackinac.

The state has appropriated operating funds to the Mackinac Island State Park Commission since 1895, when the military reservation on Mackinac Island was deeded to the state by the federal government. Mackinac Island became Michigan’s first state park. Prior to that, Mackinac Island had been designated a national park, the nation’s second, after Yellowstone National Park.

Mackinac Island State Park Commission members include Dennis Cawthorne of Mackinac Island and East Lansing, Karen Karam of Ray, Audrey Jaggi of Mackinaw City, Frank Kelley of Okemos, Richard Manoogian of Mackinac Island and Grosse Pointe Farms, Joan Porteous of Reed City, and Laurie Stupak of Menominee.

Mackinac Bridge Authority members include William Gnodtke of Charlevoix, Elsa Schaller of Petoskey, Angelo Lanni of Washington, Murray Wikol of Bloomfield Hills, Patrick Gleason of Davison, and Barbara Brown of St. Ignace.