VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

 Councilwoman JoAnn Watson to lead rally as mayor and Council dally

Civil rights groups call for “prayer vigil” at federal courthouse Thurs. March 7, appeal to US AG Holder despite his earlier silence

EFM’s and EM’s have greatly increased deficits of cities, schools 

By Diane Bukowski 

March 5, 2013 

City of Detroit water department worker on strike at Wastewater Treatment plant Sept. 30, 2012.

DETROIT – Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson has announced a public town hall meeting to educate residents about, and rally them to oppose, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s imposition of an Emergency Financial Manager on Detroit. She said at today’s council meeting that the rally will be held Wednesday March 6, 2013 at 4 p.m. in the Erma A. Henderson Auditorium of the Coleman A. Young Center at Jefferson and Woodward Avenue. 

Speakers are to include mayoral candidates Krystal A. Crittendon and Tom Barrow. Former Detroit Corporation Counsel Crittendon is to explain the legal implications of such a takeover. Noted accountant and activist Barrow will address the city’s finances, explaining why Detroit has NOT violated Public Act 72, the law to which the Snyder administration reverted after the Michigan’s voters overwhelmingly rejected PA 4. 

“There exists irrefutable evidence that EFM’s imposed by the state of Michigan and municipalities and school districts predominated by people of color have not solved financial deficits,” Watson said in an earlier statement. “EFM’s have actually increased deficits, deepened fiscal crises and de-stabilized governmental infrastructures, while robbing citizens of assets, services, access to decision-making, voter representation and accountability.”

Councilwoman Joann Watson.

The chart below focuses on deficits, but at the same time, EM’s have sold off huge chunks of city assets, shut down services, laid off thousands of public employees, and virtually wiped the cities affected from the map. Wall Street banks have campaigned during the past decade to drive municipalities further into debt to profit from staggering interest rates. Standand and Poor’s, currently being sued by the Department of Justice for fraud, and other ratings agencies have increased that debt by downgrading those cities’ ratings. 

Watson’s announcement came in the wake of foot-dragging by Mayor Dave Bing and the City Council majority regarding their right to appeal Snyder’s announcement that he intends to impose an EFM. The Council is to discuss a resolution to appeal the action Wed. May 6 at 9 a.m. and may vote on it Thursday. But Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown expressed reluctance to act without Bing. Council members and the public called on Bing to come to the table to present a united front. 

Councilmen Charles Pugh, Gary Brown

Brown and Council President Charles Pugh reportedly campaigned unsuccessfully for a revised consent agreement during meetings with Snyder and State Treasurer Andy Dillon yesterday. Many Detroiters have said, however, that it was the Council “Fatal Five’s” cave-in on the first Consent Agreement April 4, 2012 that opened the way for the current situation. 

Crittendon said earlier, “The Financial Review Team Report provides no justification for the appointment of an emergency financial manager, especially when it makes no mention of $800 million in accounts receivable owed to the City as confirmed by State Treasurer Andy Dillon.” 

Tom Barrow

Krystal Crittendon

“In [the spirit of Frederick Douglass] I call upon my fellow Detroiters, activists and citizens alike, to let’s meet to plan our actions to combat this abrogation of democracy. Barrpw said in a statement. “It may require civil disobedience in the name of all Americans who love freedom and democracy; it may require us to choose economic targets to boycott; strategic locations to disrupt; facilities to protect symbolically, and a plan of communication to our nation to show our outrage.”

Dozens of Detroiters and supporters from outside the city again packed Council chambers to tell their elected leaders to stand up for Detroit, the largest Black-majority city in the world outside of Africa. 

Dawn DeRose

“I ask the mayor to authorize collection of the taxes we’ve been discussing, and I want the Council to request this from the Mayor in writing,” said Dawn DeRose. “Also ask him  ask him to pursue collections of money from the state as I understand he’s the only one that can do that. Mayor needs to start doing what he needs to do for the citizens rather than making deals with the Governor behind closed doors. We do not need an EM.” 

Valerie Glenn

Valerie Glenn of Free Detroit No Consent sajd, “”We are asking you again, not to go along with this apartheid plan where we are treated like second-hand citizens. How long are you going to continue to create an underclass in Detroit? You have already laid off qualified people that would have had jobs today, contributing to the city’s tax base.”
She said she is concerned that the City Charter will be nullified, the remainder of city departments privatized, the water department taken over in toto, and Belle Isle given to the state. 

Rachel Maddow (see video below) discussed the failure of Michigan’s draconian EFM and EM laws  on her national TV program on the Current Channel Monday night, asking why more attention is not being paid to the situation nationally.  

Pres. Obama and AG Eric Holder.

Rev. Charles Williams II of the National Action Network, and representatives of Rainbow PUSH and the Detroit branch of the NAACP said they are planning a prayer vigil Thursday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. outside the federal court building on Fort Street in downtown Detroit. They said they will ask U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to initiate a federal investigation of Snyder’s actions regarding violations of the National Voting Rights Act. 

However, an earlier appeal by U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Detroit), to Holder fell on deaf ears. Conyers wrote Holder on Dec. 2, 2011 to ask him to investigate the effect of Public Act 4 on Michigan’s majority Black cities, saying it was disenfranchising most of the state’s African-American voters. 

Both Holder and Obama have remained silent on the question of Detroit, with Obama failing to make campaign stops here last year, although Detroit residents turned out to the polls in huge numbers to re-elect him, as well as repeal Public Act 4.

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2011 MLK Day march in Detroit at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. High School: Detroit Public Schools have been destroyed by state takeovers.

By Detroit City Councilmember JoAnn Watson

(VOD: Councilmember Watson’s article is particularly appropriate since Gov. Rick Snyder said on the Mildred Gaddis show March 4 that he is likely looking for a revised consent agreement, thus using the threat of an EM to bludgeon Council once again.)

Feb. 28, 2013

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson was part of delegation that demanded PA4 be put on the ballot at State Court of Appeals.

Detroit’s structural deficit, which has set the stage for serious financial challenges, is driven by root causes, which will not be mitigated by the imposition of an emergency financial manager (EFM) — a post created by a law that Michigan citizens overwhelmingly repealed four months ago. EFMs not only subvert the Republic form of government — the right of citizens to be represented by officials whom they select — their existence also turns the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on its head.

Furthermore, there exists irrefutable evidence that EFMs imposed by the state of Michigan in municipalities and school districts predominated by people of color have not solved financial deficits. EFMs have actually increased deficits, deepened fiscal crises and de-stabilized governmental infrastructures, while robbing citizens of assets, services, access to decision-making, voter representation and accountability.

Maureen Taylor carries sign re: DPS during protest against banks’ role in decay of Detroit and its schools May 9, 2012.

For example, Detroit Public Schools had a $93 million surplus in 1994 and 180,000 students when the state take-over of the schools was put in place — not coincidentally following citizen approval of a $1.5 billion school improvement bond, which was immediately seized by state operatives who removed local elected and appointed officials, while rewarding contracts to political cronies.

With the state takeover in place for 16 of the last 19 years and a governor-appointed EFM still in place, the Detroit Public Schools’ fiscal status has plummeted to a $300 million deficit, the student enrollment has decreased by 140,000, dozens of schools have closed (threatening the survival of neighborhoods) and the state of Michigan is currently seeking, once again, to remove local members of the elected school board who have taken sworn oaths to govern the district.

Pontiac, Flint, Benton Harbor, Highland Park and other predominantly Black cities have also had EFMs appointed for the alleged purpose of addressing fiscal crises — but in these cases the financial deficits have grown much worse, populations have downsized, assets have disappeared and the dissolution of Union contracts and public safety have been the order of the day.

Detroit Project Management Director Kriss Andrews and Mayor Dave Bing at press conference Dec. 7, 2012. Andrews, appointed under the consent agreement, can override decisions of Mayor and City Council.

On April 4, 2012, Gov. Rick Snyder implored Mayor Dave Bing and the Detroit City Council (in a controversial 5 to 4 vote) to approve a consent agreement deal (under the auspices of the EM Law, Public Act 4, which was repealed by the voters Nov. 6, 2012), which authorized Snyder to exercise authority over the city of Detroit; including the appointment of a program manager, a chief financial officer, a financial stability agreement review board, the power to impose sanctions on existing bargaining agreements and other measures that would purportedly arrest the financial crisis.

Under Gov. Snyder’s oversight via the consent agreement/state control, the city’s crisis has worsened. One of the most significant cost-saving measures addressed by the mayor, City Council and the city’s bargaining units was an agreement to achieve $105 million in concessions. But, this historic, unprecedented accord reached by the city and all of its labor unions was disallowed by the governor, inexplicably, in early 2012.

The bottom line? Neither consent agreements nor EFMs have any credible record of “stabilizing” budgets and there have been no successful reports of EFMs addressing root causes like the issues that drive Detroit’s crisis. Examples of root causes:

– Michigan’s $700 million reduction in revenue-sharing allocated to Detroit, during the last decade

– State of Michigan’s $224 million default on a revenue-sharing agreement reached by Gov. John Engler and Mayor Dennis W. Archer

Detroit Police Academy graduates: most Detroit cops are no longer residents.

– Population exodus from the city of Detroit and the private sector exodus from the city of Detroit has eroded the tax base, catalyzed in part by a state-imposed law in 1999 prohibiting the city from mandating the residency policy for city employees. The tax base loss annually has been $8.82 million per year since ’99, impacting neighborhoods, schools and small businesses

– The foreclosure crisis that has gripped the state and the nation has hit the city of Detroit in epidemic proportions; as mortgage firms have prospered and tax-paying families have been victimized by predators who have largely not suffered consequences, while decimating many of the city’s neighborhoods. There must be a moratorium on foreclosures issued statewide

Mike Illitch, owner of Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, and numerous other businesses in Detroit, owes large sums to Detroit.

– State Treasurer Andy Dillon has acknowledged that more than $800 million is owed to the city. A collaborative effort between the state, the city and key partners could garner these resources to stabilize the fiscal shortfall while structural cost-saving measures are mandated to insure that the city is not over-spending

– The city must attract new citizens, respect and retain its current citizens; attract new businesses, respect and retain existing businesses and foster a climate (including expanded rapid transit), which promotes Michigan’s largest municipality. Twenty-first century reinvention of cities requires not just cost-cutting but demands strategic investments for long-term growth and development. EFMs can point to no success toward that end. In fact, they present barriers to growth

– The city’s debt must be re-negotiated so the city’s operating budget is not prioritizing corporate, private sector firms, while employees and citizens bear the brunt of the sacrifice. 

We Will Fight Emergency Financial Management! A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass.  

Kenneth Snodgrass

Our City doesn’t need an “Emergency Financial Manager!” We, the City of Detroit have “NOT” missed any payroll, we have “NOT” failed to make any of our bond interest payments, or principal payments. We the city of Detroit have “NOT” drawn down our cash being held by the State of Michigan. Showing we have adequate cash to operate, we are paying our bills, and working towards resolving our deficit. Finally that our State Treasurer Andy Dillon has affirmed that the state owns Detroit $800 million in accounts receivable, and over $224 million in outstanding Revenue Sharing to Detroit.

Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of 1} From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913 eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com
2} The World As I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience! {Photo Book}
YouTube: I have over 375 Video’s, over 128,612 hits averaging 4,000 a month on my YouTube channel @ www.YouTube.com/KennySnod.
CONCERNED CITIZENS COALITION OF DETROIT

Press Release- March 1, 2013

Cecily McClellan- We the People of Detroit; Rev. D.A. Bullock – 13^th Congressional Dst.Chair & Delegation; Rev. Charles Williams- National Action Network (Detroit Chapter); Valerie Glenn- Free Detroit-No Consent; Theo Broughton- Hood Research; Tom Barrow- Mayoral Candidate & President of Citizens for Detroit’s Future; Krystal Crittendon- Mayoral Candidate;  Russ Bellant- Detroit Public Library Commission, Chair; Stephen Boyle, Occupy Detroit; Fellow Citizens and Friends of the City of Detroit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:  T. Henry (313) 868-1859 

We the People of Detroit, under the united banner of Concerned Citizens Coalition of Detroit, demand to be treated with respect and fairness equal to ALL citizens in the State of Michigan.  We invoke our rights as Americans and Citizens under the U.S. Constitution, State of Michigan Constitution and the City of Detroit Charter.

The Financial Review Team and Governor Snyder have misrepresented the facts in their report relative to the City of Detroit. We DO NOT NEED AN EXPANDED CONSENT AGREEMENT nor do we need a SECOND CONSENT AGREEMENT!  We DO NOT NEED AN EMERGENCY FINANCIAL MANAGER for the following reasons:

Tom Barrow

•  The City of Detroit has NOT missed a payroll
• The City of Detroit has NOT failed to make a bond principal payment
• Detroit has NOT failed to make a bond interest payment
• The City of Detroit has not drawn down on the cash being inappropriately held by the state signaling it has adequate cash to operate and is paying its bills and working towards resolving its nominal deficit.

(Paraphrased statements by  Tom Barrow- Mayoral Candidate, CPA & Municipal Finance Expert)

Detroit Mayoral Candidate and former City of Detroit Corporation Counsel -Krystal Crittendon released a statement February 25, 2013 as a response to the Governor Snyder-appointed Financial Review Team findings (excerpts):

Krystal Crittendon

“The bottom line: the (Financial Review Team) Report provides no justification for the appointment of an emergency financial manager, especially when it makes no mention of $800 million in accounts receivable owed to the City as confirmed by State Treasurer Andy Dillon.”

 According to State Treasurer Andy Dillon, $800 million is owed to the City in accounts receivable and he also admitted on a local talk show that the State of Michigan still owes the City of Detroit over $224 million in outstanding Revenue Sharing that is owed.  However, according to the City Charter, the Mayor is the only official that can authorize the City Corporation Counsel to seek recovery of these owed dollars.”

We strongly recommend that Governor Snyder work in concert with Mayor Bing to collect these outstanding debts and that the State of Michigan pays what it owes to the City of Detroit.

Cecily McClellan

 “The Financial Review Team criticized the City’s Charter …………… It must be noted that the City’s Charter was required to be, and was, actually, approved by the State of Michigan before it was placed on the ballot to be voted on by Detroit voters. It appears that the state-appointed review team is unaware that the State of Michigan signed off on the 2012 Charter for the City of Detroit before it was adopted by the residents of Detroit.” 

We demand that the State of Michigan affirm their review and approval of the 2012 Charter for the City of Detroit prior to it being placed on the ballot for a vote by Detroiters. 

Chris Griffiths, Monica Patrick, Sandra Hines of Free Detroit No Consent after repeal of PA 4.

“The City of Detroit negotiated over $150 million dollars in cost savings with the City’s labor unions in December of 2011. These savings were verified by the accounting firm the State of Michigan forced the City of Detroit to retain to assist in deficit reduction measures. After the contracts were negotiated, the Governor then advised the Mayor NOT to submit these contracts to the City Council for approval. Had these contracts been approved in January of 2012, the City would have realized $150 million dollars in costs savings in 2012.”

Rev. David Bullock, Rainbow PUSH

The Financial Review Team’s criticism of the City regarding whether the City has a plan in place to address its financial problems and the slow progress the City has made in implementing cost-saving measures is, therefore, the fault of the State of Michigan, and not the City. We recommend that the State of Michigan assume responsibility for their failure to support this cost saving measure with revenue generating capabilities.

“The Financial Review Team criticized the City for failing to have a plan to address the cash crisis, or the City’s $13.6 billion in long-term liabilities (25 year period). The Financial Review Team’s report contains a table of figures that supposedly comprise the City’s long term liabilities. The table includes lines for ‘Non-General Obligation(s),’ ‘Other Post Employment Benefits Unfunded Actuarial Liabili (ties)’ and ‘Other.’ These three categories total just under $12 billion.

Rev. Charles Williams II of NAN

“We know these are not ‘General Obligations, or ‘General Retirement System Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liabilities’, or ‘Police and Fire Retirement System Liabilities’, because those figures are found on other lines in the table. If they are obligations of the Water Department, they are funded by Water Department revenues, which are not part of the City’s general revenues, nor are they debts of the City. Rather they would be debts of the Water Board, which Federal District Court Judge Cox has declared to be an entity separate and distinct from the City.

Theo Broughton, Hood Research

“This finding is problematic for several significant reasons. First, the long-term liabilities referenced in the report include debt which is not attributable to the general fund. Less than $2 billion is general fund debt; the rest is attributable to “other” sources, such as DWSD bond debt which is secured. Second, the State had to, and did, approve of the bond transactions which the state-appointed Financial Review Team now criticizes. Troubling is the fact that now the State will not give the City all of the money it borrowed—$50 million is being withheld from the City in escrow. We strongly urge Governor Snyder and the State of Michigan to cease and desist with any further reference to the $12 billion dollar pension obligation cost, due to this misrepresentation being used as a justifiable reason to impose an unelected dictator(i.e., Emergency Financial Manager) over the Citizens of Detroit.  We also demand the immediate release of the $50 million dollars barrowed by the City that the State of Michigan is holding from the City in escrow.

Russ Bellant, Chair Detroit Library Commission

Even more troubling is the fact that the City cannot utilize the money it has received to help pay down any debt!  The State of Michigan has required the City to spend tens of millions of dollars on experts (Miller Canfield, Milliman, Miller Buckfire, Ernst & Young and the like) selected by the State to tell us what we already know: the City of Detroit is experiencing financial difficulty. This is actually what we are paying the appointed Financial Review Team to tell us.

“Finally, the State made it necessary for the City to have to borrow money in the first place. The State eliminated revenue sharing for all Michigan cities, causing all cities, not just Detroit, to experience financial distress. Moreover, the State used approximately $2 billion in Federal stimulus dollars to bail itself out, and now enjoys a billion and a half dollar surplus, while cities across the State are suffering.”

Valerie Glenn

“[We] urge the Governor to take all of these factors into consideration as he weighs his decision regarding the appointment of an emergency financial manager for Detroit.”

“WE DO NOT CONSENT,  WE WILL NOT BE DENIED EQUAL PROTECTIONS UNDER the LAW and WE WILL FIGHT EMERGENCY FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT in any and all forms!”     

Mayoral candidate Tom Barrow, with supporters including son in front, at Appeals Court hearing two years ago as he contested the election of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. Nearly 60 percent of the ballots cast, including all absentee ballots, were deemed “unrecountable” by the Wayne Co. Board of Canvassers. Bing stole that election; now Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is stealing Detroiters’ right to elect their leaders, in the wake of Bing’s collaboration with him and State Treasurer Andy Dillon.

• Tom Barrow, President
• Contact: 313-5-detroi(t) 533-8764, Opt 4

STATEMENT BY TOM BARROW, PRESIDENT, CITIZENS FOR DETROIT’S FUTURE

On Governor Snyder’s Appointment of an Emergency Manager for Detroit

I am sickened by Michigan’s Governor talk about my city and my people as if Detroit is the human dump of the state, as if real Detroiters are incapable of running our own city. I became nauseous because we have been led to this position by an inept, unconcerned and disengaged Mayor who knew from day one that a Detroit mayor’s job IS way beyond his abilities. I believe he was recruited from Franklin as his steel business went bankrupt, recruited to do the bidding of conservative interests that covet our city’s assets for private profit.

As I listened, I reflected on my life having been born in a Detroit which I have so come to love and feel protective over. I listened to a man, who has never had a relationship with my city except from afar but who described my home based on a distorted perception created as a result of a inept non-Detroiter masquerading as one of us after being selected as our Mayor.

Tom Barrow (l) and supporters at Board of Canvassers recount hearing, Dec. 23, 2010.

My fellow Detroiters, back in the election of 2009, I was left empty and drained after the mayor’s race because I saw the seals placed on the cases by election night workers had been changed. The fraud was such that the Wayne County Board of Canvassers voted unanimously not to recount the entire 41,215 Absentee Votes and still another 18,736 ballots from the polls where only 9,501 ballots would have changed the outcome.

This discovery was an unprecedented event in the electoral history of this nation, yet not a single major media outlet sought to investigate. I knew with certainty that the process had been rigged but I also knew that it would be too foreign for the public’s minds to get around. But it was only today that I came to realize the “why”.

Family picnics on Belle Isle with gorgeous view of downtown Detroit. BELLE ISLE IS BLACK LAND AS IS DETROIT!

Now Belle Isle, my childhood playground, will be taken from us as Detroiters. The “Cadillac Harper” bus route I remember as a kid and which I took to get downtown to Hudson’s will become a suburban dominated regional authority no longer under my city’s control. Our Water System, the prize of prizes, will be removed from our control and given over to private investors for personal profit and our city’s union contracts will be abrogated. I expect to witness an unprecedented firing of Detroit residents as the city privatizes it functions.

I must say that the city’s longest serving Mayor, Coleman Young, will likely sit up in his grave knowing that what he often referred to as “outsiders”, “doomsayers” and “naysayers” will now be running our city. It is so sad and I am deeply remorseful. I cannot but feel that an outsider’s hate, indifference and disrespect towards Detroiters has caused the loss of my city even before we had a chance to build bridges I knew we could build.

My friends, the great 19th century abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, declared in a famous speech that “Power concedes nothing without a demand, it never has and it never will.” On his death bed in 1895 Douglass’ last words were said to be that “we must continue to Agitate! Agitate!”

Frederick Douglass

In his spirit, I call upon my fellow Detroiters, activists and citizens alike, to let’s meet to plan our actions to combat this abrogation of democracy. It may require civil disobedience in the name of all Americans who love freedom and democracy; it may require us to choose economic targets to boycott; strategic locations to disrupt; facilities to protect symbolically, and a plan of communication to our nation to show our outrage.

Sadly, we may no longer be able to just provide commentary on our plight; we will likely have to execute action meant to demonstrate our resolve to save our city from its looters and the opportunists who wait patiently in the wings. My friends, the enemy has devised and has implemented its initial long-term plan of disenfranchisement, its “quiet war” of propaganda and manipulation, all with collaborators from within our own ranks. For the sake of ourselves and our beloved city, we must be prepared to make this a noisy and visible war for our own survival.

Our ancestors who built this city demand no less from us than what they themselves invested for the good of our city and for democracy itself. Let us now go forward!

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Stop the Elimination of US “Voting Rights Act!” – – A No Struggle, No Development Production! By KennySnod * *

Published on Mar 1, 2013

Stop the Elimination of US “Voting Rights Act!” — Rev. Al, Sharpton, President of National Action Network (NAN), Rev. Charles Williams II and Sr., members of Detroit chapter of NAN, The NAACP, S.E.I.U., Dr. Martin Luther King III , and many other groups came to Washington, D.C.,  February 27, 2013to support and challenge the hearing of the oral arguments on Shelby County, AL v. Holder case which challenges The Voting Rights Act. The conservative right wing is trying to eliminate the right to vote act from the United States Constitution. About 450 to 500 people demonstrated. – –

 A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of 1} From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913  eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com
2} The World As I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience! {Photo Book}
YouTube: I have over 375 Video’s, over 128,612 hits averaging 4,000 a month on my YouTube channel @ www.YouTube.com/KennySnod

Students in Durham County, South Carolina fought to affirm the right to vote during the civil rights movement. Now voting rights for Blacks are being challenged across the country.

_________________________________________________________________

Krystal A. Crittendon, mayoral candidate

City can collect $800 million owed by businesses, says Crittendon

From: Committee to Elect Krystal A. Crittendon

February 25, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Phillip Brown, 313 717 5077

Detroit Mayoral Candidate Krystal Crittendon released this statement today in response to the Governor-appointed Financial Review Team’s release of findings after its 30-day review:

“The Financial Review Team’s (FRT) findings in their report concerning the City of Detroit’s financial status should come as no surprise to anyone. The bottom line: the Report provides no justification for the appointment of an emergency financial manager, especially when it makes no mention of $800 million in accounts receivable owed to the City as confirmed by State Treasurer Andy Dillon.

Andrew Daniels-El demands city officials comply with City Charter during rally Jan. 28, 2009.

The FRT had already found the City to be in severe financial distress in 2012. The specific findings contained in the report regarding whether the City was in ‘severe financial distress,’ whether the City ‘had a plan in place to address the financial distress,’ and whether the City had a likelihood of fixing its financial problems, are findings which are required to be made and contained in a financial report to the Governor by an FRT empaneled under PA 72. No one reading the report should be shocked that these findings are included.

“The FRT criticizes the City’s Charter as containing ‘restrictions and structural details that make it extremely difficult for City officials to restructure the City’s operations in any meaningful manner.’ It must be noted that the City’s Charter was required to be, and was, actually, approved by the State of Michigan before it was placed on the ballot to be voted on by Detroit voters. It is unclear as to whether this state-appointed advisory board is aware that the State signed off on the Charter before it was adopted by the residents of Detroit.

“The report also criticizes the fact that the 36th District Court has allegedly failed to collect $279.3 million in outstanding accounts receivables, of which approximately $100.9 million is owed to the City of Detroit. The report suggests that the failure to collect is somehow a failure by City of Detroit government. What the FRT apparently fails to realize is that 36th District Court operations are NOT under the control of City of Detroit government; the City is simply the Court’s funding source. The Court operations are not within the control or authority of the Mayor or the Detroit City Council. Moreover, to the extent that the report suggests that the City somehow failed to collect outstanding revenues, then so did the State of Michigan, as the report alleges that $76 million is owed to the State by 36th District Court. 

Al Garrett, Pres. AFSCME Co. 25, testifies against Consent Agreement April 2, 2012, saying unions already presented package to save Detroit money. To his right are Co. 25 rep. Mel Brabson and APTE Pres. Dempsey Addison.

“The report further criticizes the City for failing to have a satisfactory plan to resolve its financial problem, as required by the Emergency Financial Manager Act. This finding is patently incorrect. The City negotiated over $150 million dollars in cost savings with the City’s labor unions in December of 2011. These savings were verified by the accounting firm the State forced the City of Detroit to retain to assist in deficit reduction measures. After the contracts were negotiated, the Governor then advised the Mayor NOT to submit these contracts to the City Council for approval. Had these contracts been approved in January of 2012, the City would have realized $150 million dollars in costs savings in 2012. The FRT’s criticism of the City regarding whether the City has a plan in place to address its financial problems and the slow progress the City has made in implementing cost-saving measures is, therefore, the fault of the State, and not the City.

Detroit Project Management Director Kriss Andrews and Mayor Dave Bing at press conference Dec. 7, 2012. Andrews, appointed under the consent agreement, can override decisions of Mayor and City Council.

“In addition, according to State Treasurer Andy Dillon, $800 million is owed to the City in accounts receivable. However, according to the City Charter, the Mayor must authorize the City Corporation Counsel to seek recovery of these dollars.

“The FRT criticized the City for failing to have a plan to address the cash crisis, or the City’s $13.6 billion in long-term liabilities. The FRT report contains a table of figures that supposedly comprise the City’s long term liabilities. The table includes lines for ‘Non-General Obligation(s),’ ‘Other Post Employment Benefits Unfunded Actuarial Liabili(ties)’ and ‘Other.’ These three categories total just under $12 billion.

City of Detroit Water Board Building.

“We know these are not ‘General Obligations, or ‘General Retirement System Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liabilities’, or ‘Police and Fire Retirement System Liabilities’, because those figures are found on other lines in the table. If they are obligations of the Water Department, they are funded by Water Department revenues, which are not part of the City’s general revenues, nor are they debts of the City. Rather they would be debts of the Water Board, which Federal District Court Judge Cox has declared to be an entity separate and distinct from the City.

“This finding is problematic for several significant reasons. First, the long-term liabilities referenced in the report include debt which is not attributable to the general fund. Less than $2 billion is general fund debt; the rest is attributable to “other” sources, such as DWSD bond debt which is secured. Second, the State had to, and did, approve of the bond transactions which the state-appointed FRT now criticizes. Troubling is the fact that the now the State will not give the City all of the money it borrowed—$50 million is being withheld from the City in escrow. Even more troubling is the fact that the City cannot utilize the money it has received to help pay down any debt, as the State has required the City to spend millions of dollars on experts selected by the State to tell us what we already know: the City of Detroit is experiencing financial difficulty. This is actually what the FAB was appointed to tell us

Protesters denounce Gov. Snyder during Benton Harbor/St. Joseph Blossomtime Parage last year.

“Finally, the State made it necessary for the City to have to borrow money in the first place. The State eliminated revenue sharing for all Michigan cities, causing all cities, not just Detroit, to experience financial distress. Moreover, the State used Federal stimulus money to bail itself out, and now enjoys a billion and a half dollar surplus, while cities across the State are suffering.

“I urge the Governor to take all of these factors into consideration as he weighs his decision regarding the appointment of an emergency financial manager for Detroit.”

Free Detroit No Consent protest outside Snyder appearance at MOT Nov. 1, 2012.

 By Joyce Moore

Former City Charter Commissioner 

March 3, 2013 

Joyce Moore

I am a concerned resident, Tax Payer in the City of Detroit and a Citizen of the United States. I am writing this because I can according to my unalienable rights.  I don’t understand how it is that when the people voted not to have an emergency financial manager (EFM) in the City of Detroit, Governor Synder decides to ignore the will of the people.

In a recent article he indicated that he has an emergency financial manager as a candidate in mind.  He also indicates in the article that the person would be in charge for 18 months.  Isn’t that just about the time when the governor is up for election and Governor Snyder leaving office? What damage, what back-room commitments has he made and has to keep and most of all what has he stolen from the people in the City of Detroit? If the state owes the City millions, then why aren’t they paying? That would eliminate some of the debt burden! 

Gov. Snyder after the repeal of PA 4.

We need to take a closer look at Snyder, what are his real plans and motives and what is he really in office to do?  He says that he will continue to take a salary of $1.00 (one dollar) as governor but where will he get his money knowing that as a CEO he made close to two (2) million dollars a year?  There needs to be a law that states that if you are elected to a public office then that is the only salary you are entitled to during your term as a public servant.  This is clearly a conflict of interest.