Budget request puts taxpayers on hook for $10M Lansing entertainment venue

State taxpayers could pay an additional $10 million for a Lansing entertainment venue under a funding request in Michigan’s 2026 budget.

Money awarded from the request, which was submitted by Rep. Emily Dievendorf, D-Lansing, and co-sponsored by three other lawmakers, would be used to support facility upgrades and improvements at the Lansing Convention Center.

The Lansing Entertainment and Public Facilities Authority, which manages the Lansing Convention Center, Jackson Field and Groesbeck Golf Course, is the recipient of the proposed funding.

The state previously awarded $6.5 million to the authority in July 2023 for facility upgrades — $5 million of which was designated for the Lansing Center and $1.5 million for Jackson Field, according to a 2024 financial audit.

The public authority, according to the audit, also received more than $2 million in unearned revenue in 2024 for the center. The revenue likely came from government grants, the report said.

The latest funding request would improve the Lansing Center’s exhibit halls, upgrade facilities, and enhance safety in public areas.

If approved, the two earmarks would bring the total state taxpayer-funded support for the Lansing Center operations to $15 million over a three-year period. It would be over $17 million if the unearned revenue also came from taxpayers.

The funding gives the venue an advantage over privately operated banquet halls and event spaces in the region which have to rely on revenue generated from events to upgrade facilities.

Dievendorf did not respond to a request for comment.

Lawmakers in Lansing also approved $1 million for Jackson Field in the state’s 2025 budget, which also gives the Lansing entertainment authority a financial advantage.

The Jackson Field earmark is currently the subject of a lawsuit, brought by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. It challenges the state’s approval of pork projects included in the budget and argues the earmark is unconstitutional.

“Lawmakers are given broad discretion about how to spend the public purse to benefit the public,” according to James Hohman, fiscal policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

But when they try to bring funds to particular projects, according to Hohman, the state constitution requires them to get more support than bare majorities.

“Legislators haven’t been getting that in the past and I would like to see projects like this stop when they don’t meet constitutional requirements,” he said.

Tristan Wright, chief executive officer of the Lansing Entertainment and Public Facilities Authority, did not respond to an email seeking comment.