In a story entitled "St. Ignace Begins Budget Process" in the October 8 issue of The St. Ignace News, it was reported that a fouryear plan being done alongside the 2010 city budget was required by the state.

The four-year plan is actually a tentative budget looking ahead as far as 2013 and is not required by the State of Michigan. City Manager Eric Dodson said the city is doing this on its own initiative to help better plan out major expenses the city's budget may need to consider in the future, like new police cars, new snowplowing equipment, and water and sewer system improvements.

The City of St. Ignace was required in 2007 to create eight, five-year deficit elimination plans for depleted city funds facing budget deficits, including the sewer, equipment, marina, community center, building authority debt, data processing, office equipment pool, and wastewater plant funds. These deficit elimination plans were submitted to the state and are not a part of the normal yearly budget process.