State Sen. John Cherry Pushes Governor to Release Work Project Funds to Keep Assistant Prosecutors On the Job

GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- State Sen. John Cherry has asked Governor Gretchen Whitmer to release work project funds to prevent deep cuts and layoffs in the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office. The request comes after the county's chief financial officer warned that funding for positions from Michigan's High-Crime Community Support Grant program ran out last week.

Cherry, D-Flint, said he spoke to Whitmer's office on Thursday, April 16, a day after the county's chief financial officer warned that funding for the positions from Michigan's High-Crime Community Support Grant program ran out last week. The funding shortfall leaves the county with two options -- laying off at least 21 positions that are fully funded by the grant or paying an estimated $1.8 million to keep the employees on the job through Sept. 30, the end of the county's fiscal year.

"We appreciate the outreach from the prosecutor's office and look forward to meeting with them in the coming days to learn more about their ongoing budget challenges," Press Secretary Stacey LaRouche said in a statement to MLive-The Flint Journal. "This grant was approved by the Michigan Legislature. Any funding to support county prosecutors would need to be included as part of a legislative supplemental, or the legislature's budget for the next fiscal year. We would encourage the prosecutor's office to continue working with Sen. Cherry on this matter."

The Governor's Office did not immediately comment on Cherry's request, but LaRouche said officials plan to talk about the issue with Prosecutor David Leyton.

Cherry led a successful effort to secure funding for the high-crime program through the state budget process in 2023, including a $12 million earmark to help prosecutors in Genesee, Ingham, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Saginaw and Wayne counties. Although the program has been promoted as a new continuing funding stream for prosecutors in those areas, changes in boilerplate language in the state budget were made before adoption.

Leyton said the modifications by the state Department of Treasury resulted in a roughly 50% reduction in expected annual funding after the first year for Genesee County. Leyton has described the potential loss of employees, primarily assistant prosecutors, as a nightmare scenario that would cause further backlogs of criminal cases and longer waits for jail inmates to resolve their cases.

"Leyton has described the potential loss of employees, primarily assistant prosecutors, as a nightmare scenario that would cause further backlogs of criminal cases and longer waits for jail inmates to resolve their cases."

Members of the Genesee County Board of Commissioners, Cherry and Leyton plan to meet next week before the commissioners consider their next move. Leyton said on Friday, April 17, that he's asking commissioners to help bridge the funding gap until work project dollars are secured or a new state budget is adopted to fully fund the positions in his office.

The prosecutor wrote to Whitmer in March, telling her the county could not sustain continued delays in promised funding and reductions in future payments. Cherry said he expects the Senate version of a state budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 to fully fund the high-crime grant program.

Commissioners discussed the funding shortfall this week, and several members said that without additional funding, layoff notices could be issued in the coming days. The county budget they adopted for the current fiscal year included language that calls for grant-funded positions to be eliminated if that funding dries up.

In addition to the 21 positions, most of which are assistant prosecutors, county Chief Financial Officer Crystal Simpson said 11 additional positions in Leyton's office of 77 are partially funded by the same grant.

Work project funds are unspent dollars for specific programs in the state budget. Cherry said the state can't generally reprogram all of those funds for another purpose, but said there is sufficient flexibility to release some for the program for prosecutors.

"Treasury has work project dollars available from previous appropriations in previous years they could use," the senator said.

In addition to cuts in county funding from the program, Leyton said the state has been slow to pay the funds that have been sent to the county. Cherry said he wants the next state budget to include funding to backfill money spent by the county to keep program employees on the job.

Sources

  • MLive-The Flint Journal: https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2026/04/cherry-asks-whitmer-for-state-funds-to-avoid-layoffs-in-genesee-county.html