Tagged: Detroit consent agreement

A state-appointed review team assessing the finances of Detroit met for the first time today. Most members of the panel say they are optimistic the city can avoid being taken over by an emergency manager.

Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Conrad Mallet is on the panel. He is optimistic the city can turn its deficit around.

“We understand the concerns of the men and women who live inside the city of Detroit about what a survey like this actually entails and what it could mean,” said Mallet. “What it is going to mean is that we are going to get to the bottom of the course of difficulty.”

The review team has about a month and a half to send a report of the city’s finances and a recommendation to Governor Rick Snyder.

The Detroit City Council has scheduled a discussion of Mayor Dave Bing's budget reduction plan. It's set for Thursday afternoon.

A review team is looking into Detroit's finances - a step in a process that could lead to Michigan taking over the city's government. Its recommendations will be forwarded to Gov. Rick Snyder.

A preliminary review determined there was "probable financial stress" in city government and that Detroit faces a general fund deficit of about $200 million. Auditors say Detroit may run out of money as early as April.

Bing, the council and city labor union leaders have been collaborating to convince the state that an emergency manager is unneeded.

Bing has said he'll cut 1,000 jobs early this year to save about $14 million.

Republicans in the state House said “no” today to Detroit lawmakers who tried to add $220 million for the city to a budget bill. Detroit officials say the money is owed the city from an earlier deal with the state.         

Detroit could run out of money to pay its bills by April. A state review team is examining the city’s finances in a process that could wind up with Governor Rick Snyder naming an emergency manager to run Detroit. But members of Detroit's legislative delegation say there are better options.

"It’s not a good investment in the state of Michigan to have your premier city go belly up and bankrupt, which will kill Standard & Poors’ rating of the state of Michigan as a state and all of the other cities and municipalities will go down the drain with them,” said State Rep. Fred Durhal (D-Detroit).

Durhal says he’s working on a plan to get a cash infusion to the city if it develops a state-approved proposal to manage its finances.

Native Detroiter Harry Morgan died yesterday. What makes me feel old is that while the rest of the world remembers him fondly for his role in MASH, I think of him as Officer Bill Gannon from Dragnet.

That was the show made famous by the iconic line “Just the facts, ma’am.‘ Which, by the way, nobody ever actually said on the show, any more than Humphrey Bogart said “Play it Again, Sam,” in Casablanca. Those are enduring cultural myths.

There’s another, more dangerous myth out there in Detroit today, a myth apparently shared by the mayor and city council.