Michigan governor signs budget with $165M more for Flint

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed a $38.6 billion budget bill today that will more than triple state spending on the water emergency in Flint.

Expenditures on the lead-tainted water crisis will total at least $240 million. That is about $165 million more than the $75 million previously approved by the governor and lawmakers, according to a legislative fiscal analysis.

The impoverished city – whose nearly 100,000 residents have been living under a public health emergency for nearly eight months – will use some money to begin replacing thousands of underground lead pipes that connect water mains with houses and buildings.

Other aid will go toward ongoing water bill credits that residents and businesses receive dating from April 2014, when Flint's water supply was switched to the local river to save money, through whenever the emergency ends. The city was under state management at the time of the switch.

People are using faucet filters and bottled water until the tap water is declared safe.

The spending also is intended to specifically help children — subsidizing child care, providing healthy food to reduce lead poisoning risks and covering psychotherapy sessions.