The post-election battle over Detroit's fiscal future after voters rejected the state's emergency manager law is complicated and getting chaotic.
The Free Press reports union leaders and supporters packed the Detroit City Council meeting Tuesday, accusing the Bing administration of fumbling financial reforms and then using scare tactics about the city going broke to drum up support for drastic cuts in the aftermath of last week's statewide repeal of Public Act 4.
That meeting came a day after Detroit's program management director, William (Kriss) Andrews, told the joint city-state Financial Advisory Board that Detroit risks going broke by mid-December and ending the fiscal year on June 30 nearly $47 million short of cash. The only way Detroit can avoid running out of money to pay its bills, Andrews said, is to meet reform goals established by the state, which would then release $30 million from bond sales between this month and December -- money now held in escrow.
Union activist Robert Davis said Tuesday he expected to file another suit today over a closed meeting the Financial Advisory Board held Monday that he contends was illegal.
Meanwhile, the city's top lawyer, Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon, will meet in a closed session Thursday morning with council members to share her legal opinion on how Detroit proceeds with the consent deal after the emergency manager law's defeat, a matter that the council is keeping confidential for now.
