Kalamazoo, Regional and National Highlights
Monday, July 27th 2009
Fixing Michigan's Budget: A Tax Structure for the 21st Century.
Most politicians are advocating for the cutting or reduction of services as the only solution to addressing Michigan's budget deficit. They argue that taxes will hurt our economy even more. This powerpoint seeks to illustrate the other side of the spectrum, that in fact there are ways in which we alter that tax structure that will not hurt business and still allow us to keep necessary services.
Friday, July 10th 2009
Michigan braces for more aid applicants as thousands will lose their unemployment soon
by Alex Nixon | Kalamazoo Gazette
Friday July 10, 2009, 9:23 AM
KALAMAZOO -- Michigan's public-assistance agency is bracing for a flood of new applicants for food and cash assistance because nearly 100,000 state residents will lose their unemployment insurance by the end of this year.
The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency says nearly 230 people in Kalamazoo County will have exhausted their benefits between Aug. 24 and Sept. 18. In previous months, the number of people exhausting their benefits has been in the dozens, not hundreds, officials say.
By the end of the year, more than 1,500 people in Kalamazoo County won't be getting the unemployment checks they've depended on as the job market has dried up.
"It's daunting," said Bob Straits, administrator of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and director of the Kalamazoo-St. Joseph MichiganWorks! agency.
"Most of the folks, if they have no other resources, they'll end up applying for public assistance," Straits said, "and public assistance funding is anticipated to be reduced. So it's kind of a perfect storm."
The Michigan Department of Human Services, which manages public-assistance programs that provide aid such as cash and food, is planning to hire temporary workers to deal with the extra applications.
"We have been authorized to hire 200 limited-term eligibility workers across the state to assist with the influx that we're expecting," said Colleen Steinman, a Department of Human Services spokeswoman in Lansing.
Much of the funding for these programs comes from the federal government, but a state match is required, Straits said, and the state's estimated billion-dollar budget deficit may mean a reduction in the state match.
"If they put less in, then they get less out," Straits said.
Private groups in Kalamazoo that provide food, shelter and other help to people with no other options are already under pressure.
"In large part, it means that our enormous challenge gets bigger just when you think it just can't possibly," said Anne Wend Lipsey, executive director of the Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes food-pantry network.
Loaves & Fishes served 8,000 people last month and has been seeing record numbers since last fall. Officials are examining how the agency can increase its capacity to serve more people.
Those facing the end of unemployment checks also face a still-tough job market. Kalamazoo County's unemployment rate, while among the lowest in the state, was 10.3 percent in May.
Also, lawmakers in Washington are not likely to provide more unemployment-insurance payments, which already have been extended various times since July 2008.
The state provides 26 weeks of unemployment insurance. Through three extensions authorized by the federal government, unemployed people can receive benefits for 79 weeks, or a year and a half.
"It doesn't seem likely that there will be any legislation moving to extend the benefits" again, said U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph.
A larger portion of the assistance would go to Michigan, he said, because of the state's 14.1 percent jobless rate, but people outside of the state already think Michigan has received an unfair share of assistance because of loans provided to keep Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. afloat.
"It would be looked at as a targeted benefit," Upton said. "It puts a lot of folks in tough shape. We are alone because we have the highest unemployment in the country."
The situation probably won't improve soon. An estimated 30,000 Michigan residents on average are filing new claims for unemployment insurance each week, said Norman Isotalo, a spokesman for the Unemployment Insurance Agency.
The beginnings of an economic turnaround are, at best, predicted to be six to nine months away.
"Everybody's trying to look for the silver lining here," Straits said, "but it's all in the future.
"That's not going to help people right now," he said. "But that's the silver lining: It is going to get better."
Contact Alex Nixon at anixon@kalamazoogazette.com or 388-2783.
