Tagged: Detroit financial crisis

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gov. Rick Snyder's chief of staff says more concessions will be needed from Detroit unions before a financial oversight deal can be worked out with city leaders, but he adds "we're moving strongly forward" toward agreement.

Dennis Muchmore said during Friday's taping of public television's "Off the Record" program that he thinks five of nine city council members ultimately will approve a deal between the state and the city. At the moment only three have publicly expressed support.

If an agreement isn't reached by next Thursday, Snyder will have to decide whether to appoint an emergency manager with sweeping powers to run Detroit. Muchmore says an appeal period starts then, so the absolute deadline on a decision isn't until April 13.

Council members are expected to vote early next week.

Detroit City Council is expected to debate a draft financial stability agreement with the state today starting at 4 p.m.

Ahead of the debate, Detroit Mayor Bing released a statement saying "this draft landmark agreement...was jointly developed by the Mayor’s office, the City Council and the State of Michigan."

“Today’s special session of the Detroit City Council to consider a resolution to approve a financial stability agreement represents a significant milestone in addressing the City’s financial crisis, decades in the making,” said Mayor Dave Bing. “It won’t get fixed overnight, but our partnership with the State will drive us as we remedy our financial crisis.”

An earlier proposal by the state brought charges of an attempted "state takeover" of the city.

Council members rejected it, saying the plan stripped them of their power and was the equivalent of appointing an emergency manager to run things.

Bing said in his statement the new agreement "preserves Charter and Executive and Legislative powers, including allowing the Mayor to hire his own executive staff, and outlines specific support from the State."

The Detroit News reports it's obtained a copy of the new agreement:

[The agreement] calls for union contracts to be rewritten under new terms after they expire June 30. They would be built off a single template for all unions, including police and fire. The contracts would call for:

• Creating a financial advisory board, advising the Mayor’s office and collaborating with the City to set yearly revenue targets; 
• Requiring the City to adopt three-year budget; 
• Creating a Project Implementation Office that reports to the Mayor and introduces a Project Manager to monitor and facilitate immediate project performance improvement; and
• Providing a collaborative, performance-based process, ensuring the commitment of legislative support to improve City services such as the Public Lighting Department, the Department of Transportation and income tax collection.

The new agreement comes shortly after a coalition of about 30 city unions gave concessions in their contracts, including pay cuts, health care reorganization, and switching from traditional pensions to defined-contribution retirement plans.

Ed McNeil, with AFSCME, told the Detroit News this new draft agreement "is going to make all employees of the city of Detroit at-will. It would devastate the people in having representation. Basically what (Gov. Rick) Snyder is saying is, 'It's time to bust unions.'"

The News reports the Bing administration will push for a vote today from city council, but "council members, however, have said they expect a vote as early as tomorrow or Monday."

The Detroit City Council is expected to debate a "financial stability agreement" with the state on Thursday.

That news came just a few hours after  Gov. Rick Snyder took to a stage at Wayne County Community College to answer questions.

Snyder said the event was an effort to end the "miscommunication" about his plans for Detroit.

"I'm not here to run the city," Snyder said. "I'm here to be a supporting resource."

The questions were pointed, but the mood was calm, especially when compared to the wild public meeting held by the state's financial review team earlier this week in which one protester, Malik Shabazz,  threatened to burn the city down before allowing a "state takeover" (Charlie LeDuff of Fox News in Detroit later got Shabazz to take back that statement).

Gov. Snyder showed emotion during the town hall meeting as he tried to explain his reasons for wanting to enter into some kind of deal with city leaders rather than appointing an emergency manager.

He said the financial crisis the city is facing is casting a shadow over positive trends in Detroit, and if more citizens are thinking of leaving the city "we are in trouble!"

In one of his more animated moments, Snyder said when he talks to young people in Detroit he asks them, "do you want to be a yuppie living in Chicago, or come make a difference in Detroit?"