A committee representing retirees in Detroit’s bankruptcy said Friday it has reached “an agreement in principle” to support the city’s debt-cutting reorganization plan — a breakthrough that could speed the Motor City’s exit from bankruptcy court. Under the deal, the city agreed to cap total pension cuts for retirees in the General Retirement System at 20 percent of their pension to prevent some pensions from being wiped out by the city’s reclamation of excess interest earnings, retiree attorney Sam Alberts said.

The base pension cut for GRS members remains 4.5 percent, plus the elimination of a 2.25 annual cost-of-living adjustment, Alberts said.
“No pensioner would receive more than a 20 percent cut of their entire pension,” said Alberts, attorney for Official Committee of Retirees.