The governor and his municipal financial review advisers are a busy crew this year. In a familiar step Wednesday afternoon, he appointed an emergency financial manager for a Southeast Michigan city in distress.
Dustin Blitchok of The Oakland Press is among reporters with the expected news:
Gov. Rick Snyder has named Cathy Square, Pontiac's city administrator and director of human resources director and public works, as Hamtramck emergency manager.The appointment begins July 1, and marks the second time the city’s finances have been put under state control. Pontiac Emergency Manager Lou Schimmel served in the same role in Hamtramck from 2000-05, working under an older emergency financial manager law. . . .
Schimmel said Square ran Hamtramck’s Department of Public Works for a period of time while he was that community’s emergency financial manager.
As to why the 2.1-square mile city of 22,000 people is falling back under state control, Schimmel said: “They fell back to their old ways. The economy certainly contributed, like it did in Pontiac, as well.”
Hamtramck’s general fund plummeted from a $2.7 million balance in June 2011 to a $582,365 shortfall last summer, Michigan Department of Treasury figures show.
The state also cites budgets that inaccurately project revenues and expenditures as a reason for Snyder's financial emergency declaration.
