detnews.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ November 9, 2010 http://detnews.com/article/20101109/OPINION01/11090324 Reform Corrections spending / ROB FOWLER AND MICHAEL BOULUS/ As representatives from a diverse group of business and education organizations, we call on the new governor to tackle one of the largest contributors to the state's chronic structural deficit: Corrections spending. Gov.-elect Rick Snyder will have the opportunity to reform the state's prison system and its operations to address this problem. We strongly urge him to seize this opportunity. The legislature and the governor agreed to the FY2011 Corrections' budget in late September. Across-the-board cuts to prisons and operational efficiencies were largely offset by increases to employee salaries and retirement costs. As a result, the FY11 general fund budget is only $1.8 million less than FY10 spending. This is far too little a decrease to address the structural deficit. The new governor will have the responsibility of proposing his first state budget just weeks after taking office. Budget pressures will offer a courageous leader the opportunity to reduce Corrections spending meaningfully while preserving the safety of our communities. Both are essential if Michigan is to thrive again. The facts are startling: The prison system accounted for 2 percent of the state's general fund budget in 1971. Today, it exceeds 20 percent of the general fund. Prisons are simply crowding out other important budget priorities. Michigan is one of very few states spending more tax dollars on prisoners than on higher education. Our prison population is declining and yet the overall Corrections budget has increased, in part because personnel costs are higher than in neighboring states. Fortunately, there are commonsense approaches that can responsibly reduce Corrections' spending without compromising public safety. We must look at personnel costs, prisoner health care costs and other management and operations efficiencies. We must look systematically at whom we imprison for which crimes and for how long. We must strengthen re-entry programs to assure parolees find productive employment and avoid re-incarceration. Michigan is in better position than some states in dealing with mushrooming prison costs due to hard work and reforms already implemented by the Michigan Department of Corrections. In addition, the Michigan Justice Reinvestment Working Group ? a bipartisan forum for legislative and administration leaders ? issued a plan earlier this year to address three essential goals: deter crime, lower recidivism among high-risk probationers, and generate immediate and long-term savings to state taxpayers. But there is much hard work left to do. We believe larger-scale, money-saving reforms can, and must, be achieved without compromising public safety. We represent numerous organizations united in support of making difficult decisions to prompt more effective use of limited tax dollars in the rest of the state budget. Now is the moment to transform the way the state does business. We stand ready to back the governor and legislature in the challenging negotiations and decisions required to enact sweeping prison system reforms. /Rob Fowler is the president and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan; and Michael Boulus is executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan. E-mail comments to letters@detnews.com ./ // ------------------------------------------------------------------------ © Copyright 2010 The Detroit News. All rights reserved.