Funding For County Veterans Programs Short $3.6M

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/09/2025) A premature funding calculation, increased participation and increased utilization of grant dollars has led to a $3.6 million disparity between what the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA) projected it could fund and what it will actually be able to contribute to counties in Fiscal Year 2026.

The MVAA projected that the fund could grant up to $8.8 million in awards for Fiscal Year 2026, which was $3.6 million more than the revised number they later communicated to counties – after the counties had already budgeted around what they were told they could count on.

“First I want to say, we want to do better. We want to do right by our partners at the county,” said Rachelle BREEDEN, chief financial officer of the MVAA.

The MVAA makes its projection a year in advance to allow counties to work their budget around the amount, and as the year progressed, the department was required to recalculate the available fund balance, Breeden said.

During a March 20 hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Chair Ron ROBINSON (R-Utica) said based on what he’s seen, there’s never been more than $4.8 million appropriated for the Statewide Veteran Service Provision Grants (SVSPG).

“You got a little bit of a hot mess on your hands right now. What I feel as a legislator, I feel like I don’t believe there was anything nefarious done. But I often feel like sometimes things like this can be done to take advantage of certain situations to get more funding,” said Rep. Matt MADDOCK (R-Milford).

Breeden said over the last few years, the number of counties applying for grants has increased from 35 to 70. As of March 20, 63 counties had submitted for Fiscal Year 2026.

Rep. Jason MORGAN (D-Ann Arbor) said his counties are facing cuts of 61 percent, 63 percent and 76 percent, which would be about $1 million combined. 

“That feels unacceptable that we would just tell them with very little notice that they all of a sudden have hundreds of thousands of dollars less to provide veterans services,” Morgan said. 

Robinson said during the committee that he’s concerned about having a stopgap to prevent a situation from happening again where counties are told how much money they’ll have to work with without it being a credible figure.

Amy POCAN, a veteran service officer and director for the Ingham and Clinton County Departments of Veterans Affairs, said her departments received allocation numbers back in May and budgeted accordingly for any changes in funding that would be implemented this October.

Pocan said counties didn’t receive notice until February that there was a recalculation, or that the numbers were a projection rather than an approved allocation. The change in funding across the state dropped from a projected $8.8 million down to $5.1 million, about a $3.6 million change. 

However, the MVAA website said it is anticipating the availability of up to $4,041,500 for SVSPG funding for FY 2026.

According to a timeline published by the MVAA after the subcommittee meeting, the updated funding availability notice was announced on April 4 and the deadline for counties to submit a Letter of Intent to Apply will be due April 18.

Formal applications are due June 2 and award letters will be sent on July 1. 

Pocan said at no point was it clarified that the numbers counties were actively budgeting based off of were projections. 

“These were always allocated numbers. They were all factual numbers,” Pocan said. 

Shortly thereafter, counties were told by the state that they needed to amend their grants based on the recalculation, and the deadline for those to be submitted was the day of that subcommittee meeting, March 20.

Maddock pushed the department to extend the deadline 10, 15, or 30 days to allow counties more time. MVAA Director Brian LOVE said the department would work with counties on a case-by-case basis to make sure they wouldn’t be left behind. 

Wednesday, Rep. Julie ROGERS (D-Kalamazoo) told MIRS that she is looking at ways to make the counties whole, but budget negotiations are still in their early stages. 

MIRS subscribers can find more on the testimony of the March 20 committee by visiting the committee hearing's transcript.