LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state Department of Natural Resources and Environment says a one-day oil and gas lease auction pumped $178 million into the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, nearly matching the $190 million collected over the previous 81 years.

Lynne Boyd, chief of the DNRE’s Forest Management Division, says proceeds from Tuesday’s auction far exceeded the previous one-day total of $23.6 million set in 1981.

The DNRE says 118,117 acres in 22 counties were leased for an average price of $1,507 per acre. The highest bid was $5,500 per acre for a lease in Charlevoix County.

Boyd says bidding was boosted by news of a successful test well in Missaukee County for natural gas on a geologic formation known as the Utica Shale. T

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LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Amid all the bad economic news in Michigan of lost jobs, falling home values and rising costs for college tuition, at least one item isn’t weighing as heavily on the family checkbook.

The Senate Fiscal Agency says Michigan residents are seeing a smaller percentage of their personal income go to state taxes. It says in a recent report that tax burdens have fallen significantly in the state between 1999 and 2009.

The state still has the nation’s highest unemployment rate and one of the highest rates for home foreclosures, and a looming $1.7 billion deficit as of Oct. 1.

But both individuals and businesses are sending less money Lansing’s way, something to weigh as state lawmakers ponder potential budget cuts and tax increases.