Tagged: Detroit financial crisis

Michigan's longest serving first lady, Helen Milliken, dies at 89

Helen Milliken was Michigan’s first lady for 14 years, from 1969 to 1983.

The Detroit Free Press writes of a Republican who fought for causes that sometimes were at odds with the party:

Helen Milliken is perhaps best remembered as Michigan’s leading proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA, which would have banned discrimination based on sex and authorized Congress to adopt laws enforcing it, came close to passage (it was approved by Congress and 35 of the needed 38 states, including Michigan).

But she was also a leading advocate for the arts and environment, becoming a political force in her own right.

Missing today's due date, Michigan gets a health care exchange extension

Michigan Republicans don't care for it.

And they've been hoping that provisions of the Affordable Care Act would get struck down. That hasn't happened, and one deadline for action is today.

But as MLive's David Eggert reports, they've been given an extension to decide on whether to set up a state run health care exchange:

The Obama administration late Thursday gave Michigan another month to decide if it wants to build its own online marketplace where individuals and businesses can shop for health insurance.

The deadline had been set for today. But in a bow to a request from the Republican Governors Association, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius extended the deadline until Dec. 14.

Detroit Mayor reaches deal to keep city afloat

The dire financial projections for Detroit continue, with some predicting the city could run out of cash in December.

But Michigan Radio's Sarah Hulett reports, Mayor Bing has reached a deal with the state worth $137 million:

Mayor Bing says the agreement will help the city make changes it needs, and avoid running out of cash as early as next month.

"We're asking for $10 million in the month of November. We meet the milestones we've agreed upon, we're asking for $20 million in December, and then we've got another $50 million that will be held in escrow at a later date," Bing said.

A court has once again rebuffed a Detroit city lawyer's attempts to have the city’s consent agreement with the state overturned.

Detroit’s corporation counsel, Krystal Crittendon, has pushed forward with a legal action that could un-do the consent agreement.

Crittendon maintains that legally, the city can’t enter into any contracts with the state because the state owes the city money.

Judge William Collette of Ingham County Circuit Court dismissed a lawsuit by Detroit's top lawyer, Krystal Crittendon, this morning. She was challenging the city's consent agreement with the state. The judge ruled she didn't have standing to bring the case. We've been updating this post today.

Update 5:05 p.m.

Governor Rick Snyder said he’s also happy the judge threw out a legal challenge to the consent agreement the state made with the City of Detroit. The agreement was made to avoid the appointment of an emergency manager and to prevent the city from running out of money.  

"We’ve been continuing to work forward on our projects from the state perceptive while all this has gone on because we want to make sure we’re fulfilling our part of this," said Snyder. "It was a Detroit internal issue. I hope they continue to work hard to resolve their issue so they can continue to work hard to resolve their issues so they can work better between the mayor city council and corporate counsel."

Detroit's top lawyer argued the consent agreement was null and void because the state owes Detroit money. The state treasury denies that.

3:04 p.m.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says he’s happy a “distracting” court case brought by his own city attorney was dismissed Wednesday and the city can now follow through on its consent agreement with the state.

Bing said he was “not happy with” his corporation counsel’s decision to push the legal challenge—but insists that’s all in the past now.

“We need to get on with running the city," Bing said. "The city is still in a crisis. And we can’t have all of these distractions and think we’re going to bring the city back.”

The first steps: convening the city’s nine-member financial advisory board. That’s a key provision of the consent agreement. Bing says they’ll meet for the first time Friday.

11:59 a.m.

MPRN's Rick Pluta spoke with Michael Hodge, the lawyer who argued the case on Mayor Bing's behalf. Hodge said if the case went forward, it could have forced the city into bankruptcy this week.

From Pluta's report:

“The judge understood that financially, the stabilization agreement between the city and the state was an essential agreement to go forward and to continue to address the financial issues involving the city,” said Hodge.

Detroit Corporate Counsel Krystal Crittendon argued the agreement is not valid because the state owes the city millions of dollars. The judge’s decision does not address the question. The state Treasury says Detroit is not owed any money.

10:40 a.m.

Judge William Collette of Ingham County Circuit Court dismissed the lawsuit by Detroit's top lawyer Krystal Crittendon challenging the city's consent agreement with the state of Michigan this morning.

MPRN's Rick Pluta reports Judge William Collette said it was obvious Crittendon could not go forward with her lawsuit without the support of Mayor Bing or city council. He said Crittendon did not have the authority to file the lawsuit on her own.

Collette also said Detroit's consent agreement with the state of Michigan is in place and people will just have to live with it.

Mayor Dave Bing is holding a press conference at 11:15 a.m. Michigan Radio's Sarah Cwiek will be there.

And Gov. Risk Snyder will meet with members of the media at noon today. Michigan Radio's Lindsey Smith will bring us reaction from Mr. Snyder

Detroit's top lawyer, Krystal Crittendon, plans to argue in court that the city's consent agreement with the state is not legal.

The Detroit News reports that Crittendon contends the state owes the city "more than $220 million in past-due state revenue sharing payments and millions of other unpaid bills." She says the city can't enter into a consent agreement with the state since the state is in default.

The state has denied they owe Detroit money, and Gov. Rick Snyder and state Treasurer Andy Dillon have said they'll withhold $80 million in revenue sharing payments to the city if the lawsuit goes forward.

Crittendon is expected to appear in Ingham County court tomorrow for an initial hearing.

Crittendon said it is her legal obligation to go forward with her lawsuit. From the Detroit News:

"Those of you who have worked with me should know that I take my legal, moral, ethical, professional and charter-mandated responsibilities very seriously," Crittendon wrote. "They are not for sale and will not be compromised."

Yesterday, Michigan Radio's Sarah Cwiek reported Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was unsuccessful in persuading city council to back his effort to stop Crittendon from moving forward with the lawsuit.

Today, we here more about council's reaction to the lawsuit and the state's threat of withholding money from the city.

Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh said state officials are "scaring the hell" out of Detroit by threatening to pull funding from the city. More from MLive's Jonathan Oosting:

Council President Charles Pugh today questioned reports that Detroit is poised to run out money this week and called the state "irresponsible" for threatening to withhold expected funding because of concerns over a pending lawsuit by the city's top attorney.

"They can have those concerns," Pugh told reporters this morning. "But you don't put the city at risk of not being able to pay our police officers and firefighters and scaring the hell out of citizens by saying we're going to run out of cash. That's irresponsible, and it makes me angry because we didn't have to get to this point."

Jack Martin has has been appointed chief financial officer in Detroit. That's one of two key positions in the effort to turnaround the city's troubled finances.

Martin served as CFO of the U.S. Department of Education several years ago, and in January he was picked to be the state-appointed emergency manager of Highland Park schools.

The Detroit native says he also helped turn around Washington D.C.'s municipal finances.　

"That effort was successful," Martin says." I'm confident that this initiative will be successful. But I know it won't be easy. It will be a very, very tough struggle."

Martin will work alongside a still-unnamed program management director, and a financial advisory board. He starts the job on Monday with a yearly salary of $220,000.

There's some job switching going on today in Michigan as Highland Park Schools emergency manager Jack Martin got the nod to become the new chief financial officer for the City of Detroit.

The CFO position was created as part of the city's consent agreement with the state. Jack Martin has been the EM at Highland Park Schools since last February.

Martin is a certified public accountant and was the CFO for the U.S. Department of Education from January 2002 through December 2005.

Martin's move to Detroit left the EM position at Highland Park Schools open which will now be filled by Joyce Parker. She's the current emergency manager for the city of Ecorse. She'll continue on in that role part-time, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury.