Funds for the Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program come from industry-supported pesticide and fertilizer registration and tonnage fees.  

Pesticide registration fees are paid for by companies which register both specialty (homeowner) and wide-area(agricultural, right of way, golf course, etc.) pesticides for use in Michigan. The rate for specialty pesticides is $100/product while the rate for wide-area pesticides is equal to 3/4 of 1% of the annual wholesale value with a $150/product minimum.  

Specialty fertilizer registration fees are equal to $100 for each product and grade registered for sale. Nitrogen fertilizer tonnage fees are set at one-and-a-half cents per percent of nitrogen in each ton of fertilizer sold. For example, the fee on one ton of 28-0-0 would be 28 x .015 or $0.42. So, if 28-0-0 were selling at $160/ton, the groundwater fee would raise the price by two-tenths-of-one-percent.  

Pesticide registration fees account for about 74% of program revenues with the remaining being provided by nitrogen fertilizer users. Specialty products generate approximately 40% of the total revenues with the remaining coming from wide-area pesticide uses.  

Annual revenues average $3.5 million/year. Revenues not spent in one year are carried forward to fund the next year's programs and are not returned to the general fund.