Exclusive scoopage, but you have to be a subscriber to read. I pasted the top of the story below. The city council will be discussing the proposal this week.

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Rail plan: Use fed funds to get fed funds: Bond sale to help raise local match

By Bill Shea
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's administration has crafted a plan to divert some of the city's annual federal capital transportation grant funding to back bonds that will pay for Detroit's share of a $500 million light-rail system on Woodward Avenue.

The deal, which has federal approval, allows the cash-strapped city to arrange required local-match funding without actually using local money.

The plan is to issue up to $125 million in Capital Grant Receipts Revenue Bonds to reach the 40 percent local funding match threshold required to trigger federal payment of the remainder of the rail project.