LANSING - Did you hear Michigan's state government is in a budget crisis?

Delegates to the 48th Legislative Conference of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council got an earful on the subject April 16-18, as Lansing lawmakers confirmed the bad news everybody already knew, while telling the 100-plus delegates what the crisis means to the state's Hardhats.

The bottom line: Michigan has a near-term, $900 million budget deficit and later this year will face a long-term shortfall of $3 billion. That comes on top of $3 billion in cuts that have already been made during the last three years. This is with a state general fund budget that amounts to $9 billion.

"It's an unprecedented state of affairs," said Lt. Gov. John Cherry. "Unless we correct the overall budget problems the future of state government the overall future is dim. We need to have a fundamental debate on the purpose of state government."

Last year, Republican lawmakers allowed the expiration of the Single Business Tax, without a plan to replace the money. The tax, unpopular as it was for some in the business community, accounted for $1.9 billion in state tax revenues. Since then, Democrats took over control of the state House, and a stalemate has ensured over how to replace the SBT and make up the widening hole in the state's general fund budget.

Republicans have been disinclined to talk about raising taxes - which in one form or another is probably inevitable. State Dems have raised the subject - talking about sales, gas and inheritance tax hikes - but know that even broaching the subject is going to be hugely unpopular.

Freshman State Rep. Joan Bauer, (D-Lansing) said she is 13 weeks into her new job after winning her election in November. "My husband told me, 'you worked your hide off in the election and wanted this job?' Seriously, we're at a point in this state where we're going to have to make some tough decisions."

She echoed comments by Cherry and others, who said the only three major expenditure areas that the state has left to cut are for "education, health and human services and corrections - the rest of state government you can cut the heck out of and still come up with only $30 million," she said.

Cherry said Michigan's "structural deficit" is due in large part to the state's dependence on manufacturing jobs, but noted that those losses are coupled with a series of tax cuts made during the Engler Administration. "It was a whole series of tax cuts - taxes were cut, but we did not cut state spending," he said.

Sen. Mike Prusi (D-Ishpeming), told delegates that business taxes have already been reduced by $500 million, and Senate Republicans are calling for an additional $300-$400 million in additional cuts.

"I struggle to see the necessity to give them another tax break when we're looking at cuts for K-12 education and higher education cuts. These are the things you build a society on." Prusi also urged more union members to become involved in politics. "If you don't you get representation that doesn't share your vision," he said.

House Majority Leader Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) said "Back in the 1960s, one wage earner could make enough to provide a family of four, six or eight," he said. "That's not the case any more. The erosion of the middle class is the reason I ran for office." He said the current budget debate in our state "is about whether Michigan will invest in itself or keep cutting back and make us a Third-World state where no one will want to work or play."

Pointing to the $3 billion in tax cuts Michigan has made in the last three years, Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) said supply side economic theory pushed by Republicans should translate into more investment in the state. "If that were the case we'd have the most prosperous state in the country," Schauer said.

He said continual cutting taxes and cutting wages "will lead Michigan to competing with Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina," as part of a tax-cutting ideology "that's bringing Michigan into a race to the bottom."

Sen. Randy Richardson, a moderate Republican from Monroe who is vice-chair of the Senate's Economic Development Committee, said the GOP plan to fix Michigan's budget is centered on a $942 million cut to K-12 education - which would result in state spending $34 less per student.

He cited a survey that said three out of 10 people in Michigan want to leave the state. "The things we should be concerned about is that Comerica Bank (which announced last month that it is moving its corporate headquarters from Detroit to Dallas) wants to be where the action is," he said. "Some of us believe that raising taxes will cause more people to leave."

Richardville left the door open to raising taxes -"there is probably some need for revenue enhancement," he said. "But we don't favor (the governor's) 2 percent service tax."

Doug Bennett, former business manager of Plumbers, Pipe Fitters and Service Trades Local 174, serves as a Democratic House representative in the 92nd District.

"The problem in this state is the lack of revenue for the state government," he said. "There is not much more this state can do when it comes to downsizing and privatizing and reorganizing."

As an example, Bennett said he serves as chair of the Department of Environmental Quality Committee, which is supposed to police corporate factories and facilities to prevent polluting. He said the state issues environmental permits - but doesn't have the manpower to investigate to see if they're polluting.

Bennett agreed with a plan for the state to raise the state's 3.9 percent taxation rate to 4.7 percent - where it was before Gov. Engler came into office. But he would agree to place an end date on the tax so it isn't permanent, in order to allow the state to get itself out of its financial hole. "We're off on a tangent that somehow we can cut our way out of this," he said. "We're at the point where cuts aren't going to do us any good."