The holiday is over and the coming week promises to be a key period in the struggle to fix Detroit's finances., as WWJ-AM reports in a roundup on its website.
On Monday, the Financial Advisory Board is scheduled to meet with Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and others. The board was created with the consent agreement when city council and the mayor’s office were in charge, and the board might not still be needed with Orr in office.
On Tuesday, the Detroit City Council will move to fill vacancies created by the disappearance of Council President Charles Pugh and the departure of president pro tem Gary Brown, who moved to a position in Orr’s office.
On Wednesday, Orr is set to meet with the city’s pension boards to talk concessions, and will take Wall Street creditors on a bus tour of the city to see how the financial crisis has impacted the city.
Creditors are asked to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what’s owed and underfunded pension claims would get less, as Orr now estimates the city’s long-term debt at $20 billion.
In a Crain's column, company chairman Keith Crain predicts: "The next month is probably going to be pretty nasty for a lot of stakeholders."
I would not want to be in Kevyn Orr's shoes in making these decisions. There simply isn't enough to go around, and lots of folks -- whether they're present or past employees, bondholders or others -- will be unhappy.
