LANSING – In 10 years, the total inflation rate in Michigan has been 18.5 percent, but total state spending on its main budgetary areas has increased by just 1.4 percent, according to figures released by the Senate Fiscal Agency.

The SFA, in a document released late last week, showed that if the Legislature adopts Governor Rick Snyder’s 2011-12 budget proposal, the state will spend from state revenue sources a total of $26.438 billion, just $352 million more than it did in the 2001-02 fiscal year.

So far, legislative appropriations subcommittees have proposed budgets for the 2011-12 fiscal year that would be less than Snyder’s proposed budget.

The revenue sources would include Michigan’s major taxes, including the personal income tax, the sales tax and the Michigan Business Tax (and before that the Single Business Tax).

The paper showed that while total state spending on major budget areas from state sources had increased by just 1.4 percent, total state personal income grew by 22.4 percent during the same time from $301.5 billion to $368.9 billion.

The document also showed that most areas the state spent money on during that time were cut, at least in terms of the amount of actual state resources. In percentage terms, the largest cut was to local government revenue sharing.

The two biggest exceptions were the departments of Community Health and Corrections, which both saw large percentage increases in spending.

The document, which looked at the state’s overall economic and budget status, showed that state spending on DCH went from $3.06 billion in the 2001-02 fiscal year to Snyder’s proposal of $4.85 billion for the 2011-12 fiscal year, an increase of 58.4 percent.

While the document itself did not list a cause for the increase, the state has seen a major increase in the number of Medicaid recipients during the decade-long economic downturn.

State spending on corrections increased by 21.2 percent during the decade, from $1.653 billion to Mr. Snyder’s proposal of slightly more than $2 billion.

A category listed as “all other state programs,” and which included the departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and State Police, and other areas, also showed an increase of 4 percent in the decade since, going from a total of $5.13 billion to $5.345 billion.

But the other large areas of state spending all showed declines in expenditures by state sources of funding, at least according to Snyder’s proposal.

K-12 school aid showed a drop of 6.2 percent, for example, with spending by state sources going from $11.2 billion in 2001-02 to Snyder’s proposal of $10.5 billion. K-12 spending is the largest budget area for the state.

Revenue sharing to county and local governments fell by the largest percentage amount, 36.8 percent, or from $1.5 billion to Snyder’s proposal for $959 million.

State spending on higher education fell by 34.9 percent during the same time period, from $1.9 billion to Snyder’s proposal of $1.26 billion. Just in the upcoming fiscal year, Snyder has proposed cutting higher education by more than $200 million.

Spending on the Department of Human Services dropped by 3 percent during the decade, as people without work were often forced to turn to state assistance. The state spent $1.23 billion in 2001-02 and Mr. Snyder proposed spending $1.19 billion.

Total state spending on community colleges fell by 7.6 percent during the decade from $320 million to $295 million.

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