Governor Synder Heads To Wall Street

LANSING (WWJ) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder prepares to head to the Big Apple to meet with bond rating agencies.

Gov. Synder plans to visit Wall Street once the state's budget has been approved to figure out how to beef up the state's financial profile. His goal is to show that Michigan is now a better credit risk.

"Having a much more stable, thoughtful tax system is a major plus because we essentially wiped out the tax credit system, which I thought was unfair, and create a simpler, fairer, more efficient tax system," Synder said.

The Gov. said by making payments in a category known as "other post-employment benefits," the state could save billions of dollars in liabilities each year.

"On the budget side, we did a couple of things. One is... we got away from just the cash-in, cash-out mentality. That we're actually making a payment on our OPAB liabilities, on our plus retiree medical liabilities. If we consistently make that payment, we can bring down a $15 billion liability by $5 billion," Snyder said.

This week, the Gov. and the Republican leadership in the legislature have announced a tentative budget deal. Read more here.