ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Most Michigan city and village officials report concerns about insufficient budgeting expertise in local governments, according to a new survey from the University of Michigan’s Michigan Public Policy Survey released Wednesday.

The survey, which was sent out to local government leaders in more than 1,300 counties, reported that 60% of these officials said they were either somewhat concerned (24%) or very concerned (36%) about failing to meet local or state budgeting requirements. Over half of the leaders said they were worried about the lack of budgeting expertise among elected officials.

MORE NEWS: Michigan’s Cable Subscriber Count Drops Further

Among different jurisdiction types, the percentage of county officials expressing budgeting requirement concerns was the largest (84%) compared to the percentage of concerned city (76%), village (64%), and township leaders (54%).

However, city leaders expressed more concern over lack of expertise among elected officials (56%), versus village (53%), county (42%), and township leaders (36%). Some leaders also reported doubts in the budgeting expertise of government staff, although fewer than the leaders concerned about elected officials.

Communities with high financial stress are more likely to report budgeting concerns, according to the report, but even in financially-stable communities, 24% report unease about staff expertise and 34% report unease about elected official expertise.

“Budgeting and financial planning is tricky even in the best of times, and now with so many headwinds and layers of uncertainty facing local governments, there’s just less room for error,” said Stephanie Leiser, director of CLOSUP and one of the report’s co-authors, in a press release.