Tagged: Detroit consent agreement

The state review team looking at Detroit’s finances met again Wednesday, and formally declared the city to be in “severe financial distress.”

Are you confused about the proposed “consent agreement” the state is trying to work out with Detroit?

If so, count yourself one among many, including me, and I’ve been covering the story nearly every day for the past couple of weeks. In fact, I’m fairly sure that all the parties involved are confused.

In Michigan, everybody’s well-being depends to some extent on Detroit not collapsing into economic chaos. It doesn’t matter what you think of the city. The healthier Detroit is, the more easy it becomes to attract business, jobs and people to the state.

So if you realize that, yesterday seemed like a pretty dismal day as city and state officials struggled to try and avoid an emergency manager.  Last week, Governor Rick Snyder presented a proposed consent agreement to the city which was met by furious hostility.

Legal wrangling over Public Act 4, Michigan’s emergency manager law, has put the state’s ability to work out a consent agreement with Detroit in jeopardy.

State leaders and some Detroit officials want to work out an agreement that would prevent the city from going broke in the next couple of months—without appointing an emergency manager.

DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan judge has temporarily put the brakes on a potential consent agreement between the state and the city of Detroit.

A ruling delivered Tuesday by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette in Mason says a state-appointed review team and Treasurer Andy Dillon shall not execute or sign a consent agreement or its equivalent with the Detroit until Collette makes further orders.

Collette set a new hearing date of March 29. A meeting was previously scheduled for Thursday.

The new hearing date is after the March 26 deadline that Gov. Rick Snyder set for the financial review team to report to him. The review team could reach a consent agreement with Detroit or recommend an emergency manager financially-battered city that faces a nearly $200 million deficit.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has sent City Council members proposed language for a consent agreement, as time ticks down for them to counter a state proposal that would avoid an emergency manager.

Bing says his proposal gives Detroit “The appropriate tools to address the City’s financial crisis, and preserve the rights of Detroiters to be governed by the City’s elected officials.”

DETROIT (AP) - The City Council has received a draft of Mayor Dave Bing's counter-proposal to a state-authored consent agreement involving Detroit's poor finances.

Bing says Monday in a release that a draft of the Financial Stability Agreement was sent Sunday to the nine council members.

The draft was prepared with input from the mayor's staff and council staff.

Bing said the counter-proposal "is designed to provide a reliable roadmap for the city and state to collaborate in resolving the city's short-term cash flow challenges and long-term structural changes."

Bing and council members said the agreement proposed last week by Gov. Rick Snyder gives a nine-member financial advisory board whose members would be appointed by state and city officials too much authority over the decisions made by the elected mayor and City Council.

Every week, Rick Pluta, Lansing Bureau Chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network, and I have been taking a look at the politics behind the state's news headlines. This week: we take a look at what a possible consent agreement for the city of Detroit means for the relationship between Governor Rick Snyder and Mayor Dave Bing.

A small crowd camped out inside the building that houses state offices in Detroit Friday.

The group was there to protest Michigan’s emergency manager law, Public Act 4—and the state’s plans to use it in Detroit.

The protest was small and peaceful, if loud, with prayers and song. Tempers did flare briefly when private security guards tried to force protesters to leave.

Governor Snyder and other state officials have told Detroit this week it needs to accept a consent agreement to avoid going broke.

A draft agreement has been presented to the City Council. It would give the state a great deal of say in how Detroit is run.

But lots of politics stand in the way of reaching an agreement.

The consent agreement State Treasurer Andy Dillon has crafted for Detroit—the only “official” proposal out there right now--can be seen in one of two ways.

U.S. Representative Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) wants the state to hold off on plans to appoint a financial advisory board to oversee things in Detroit.

Clarke is quoted in the Detroit News saying "even though Detroit is in a financial crisis, this current financial board has the power and the focus to cut staff, outsource departments and sell assets. That's not the way you get out of a financial crisis."

From the Detroit News:

Clarke says he wants the federal government to provide relief similar to what was given to New York City in 1975 to keep it from going into bankruptcy.

Clarke, who says he's prepared to introduce legislation in Congress next week, says he understands it's a long shot, but said the idea is worth pursuing. Any legislation would have to be passed through the Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate.