DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – The 2016 bailout of the Detroit public school district has now cost taxpayers an estimated $760 million. That’s 23% higher than the originally stated cost.

When the state stepped in to resolve the Detroit public school district’s longstanding financial issues, the original price tag came it at $617 million eight years ago.

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But a new report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan states that there has been an additional $143 million in expenses that came from the state of Michigan’s General Fund.

Detroit voters approved in November a business tax that will generate about $10 million a year for the Detroit public school district. That money will allow the district to repay what it calls its “legacy” debt, or the nearly $2 billion in debt it had incurred that triggered the 2016 bailout.

The Detroit public school district has paid off that $2 billion in legacy debt by using a school operating property tax restricted only to pay off that older debt. The school district is expected to pay off that $2 billion by 2025.

Now, the Detroit Public Schools Community District wants to take that school operating property tax revenue that was paying off the older debt and use it to repay the $1.4 billion in newer debt the district has incurred. The state’s Treasury department has ruled that the school operating property tax revenue has to be used to pay for school operations.

If the Detroit public school district gets its way, the state will have to pay at least an extra $120 million from its General Fund to cover that lost school operations money that district wants to use to pay off that $1.4 billion in newer debt.