State Rep. Jay DeBoyer recently voted against a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year, blasting it as tone deaf spending that discards transparency and doesn’t give taxpayers a good return on investment.

The budget plan totals more than $80 billion and funds hundreds of millions of dollars in pork projects that were added at the last minute, including $17 million for zoos in Lansing and metro Detroit, $2.5 million for professional baseball stadiums, $5 million for a theater in Detroit, and $300,000 to cover public Wi-Fi in downtown Detroit.

“As representatives of the people, we have a responsibility to use tax dollars afforded to state government in an effective and efficient fashion,” said DeBoyer, of Clay Township. “This plan prioritizes expensive special projects for choice areas over what a vast majority of legislators hear about in their communities. People want to have good roads to drive on when they run errands or take their kids to school. They want to know their children can learn and prepare for their futures in a safe environment at school when they drop them off for the day. They want robust public safety investments so their neighborhoods are safe. This budget simply discards all those priorities and uses taxpayers as an endless ATM to pay for other things.”

DeBoyer specifically pointed to several issues that led him to oppose the budget plan, including:

• No dedicated funding for local roads: There is no extra funding specifically set aside in the budget for local road agencies to repair crumbling roads. DeBoyer has consistently fought for ways to get money into the budget plan for local roads, including supporting an amendment when a budget plan passed the House last month that would have shifted millions of dollars away from an electric vehicle pilot program to local road funding for cities, villages and counties. The amendment was not incorporated into Democrat plans.

• Continued gambles on electric vehicles: While no dedicated money was included for communities to repair roads from driveway to highway, the budget devotes $25 million for electric vehicle charging stations that will be owned by the government and another $3 million for e-bike subsidies. DeBoyer said these resources should have been used elsewhere to address more pressing needs given the inconsistent demand for electric vehicles.

• Impacts on school aid and teacher retirement benefit funding: Last year’s budget included $328 million for school safety and mental health grants. The plan for the upcoming fiscal year reduces that total by over 90 percent and leaves just $26.5 million for schools to try and fund school resource officers, mental health services and other critical programs that protect kids. For the first time in more than a decade there is no increase in per-pupil funding for Michigan’s public schools. DeBoyer says not finding the funding to boost the allowance is outrageous given the extreme price tag of the budget plan. The plan comes on top of a proposal which raids more than $600 million from Michigan’s public school teachers’ retirement fund, commonly known as MPSERS, to help pay for other projects.

• Less transparency in government: Reports emerged earlier this year that a Detroit businesswoman who was awarded a $20 million grant in last year’s state budget spent $4,500 in taxpayer funds on a coffeemaker and thousands more on first class flight tickets. Despite this embarrassing revelation, key accountability provisions for grant reviews were not included in the budget plan. The plan also increases contingency spending limits, giving unelected bureaucrats free rein to spend money without input from legislators or the people they represent.

“In addition to a lot of spending that no one specifically asked for besides special interests, this was a rushed process and this budget plan was rammed through in the middle of the night,” DeBoyer said. “Not only are hardworking taxpayers being asked to foot the bill for out-of-control government spending, but the spending is being approved in the dark of night when most people are asleep.”

The budget plans now move to the governor for her consideration.