Council president wants the state to grant some emergency manager authority to mayor

[skyl4rk]

Maybe Brown believes that government should live within its means and not run a deficit

[kenp]

Let's put this into perspective.... Gary Brown got his monetary settlement after the KK/Beatty firing... he doesn't need ANY job.

He could have retired to Florida and lived happily ever after... but he chose to get into city government instead.... let's not forget that....

Higher political asprirations... I don't think so... maybe he just wants to help clean house to make sure that what happened to him [[the firing) doesn't happen to others....

The man had the balls to stand up to the KK machine, so let's give him some respectability....

That makes to much sense.

[Danny]

That's fine with me! Let King Bing do his EFM thing, fire the Detroit City Council and other services and bring corporate goon squad from his "Piston Manufacturing Company' to clean up King Kwame's mess.

[HistoryNotHisStory]

This is bizarre. A councilman who is part of a the legislature in Detroit government is suggesting that the chief executive of Detroit should be awarded more power to run Detroit. Looks like Gary Brown is really after that John Conyers seat. If Don Snyder declares Detroit is in financial trouble, he appoints an EFM and that EFM bounces city government then Brown have a harder time getting elected to Congress but if no EFM comes riding in on the white house then Detroit government survives and Brown can sell to the 14th district why he should be elected to Congress.

Bing is on record saying that he don't want to be EFM. I think it would be damn interesting to see if that happens because it brings a question to light. Would the EFM suspend elections in Detroit? I ask this because if future Dave Bing becomes future EFM then what happens when the voters vote his ass out. Do he still remain EFM or do he loses the power when he loses the mayor's office?

The Answer to your final Question is that if the mayor becomes the EFM, that office will supercede any election. The powers of EFM supecede the mayor.

That's why its important that city workers take the cuts that the Mayor is recommending. Because if an EFM gets appointed, whether its Dave Bing or not they can be without a job.

[Fnemecek]

Did you forget that Detroit has a...wait for it.....$3.1 billion dollar budget. The Water Dept and Cobo are chump change in the grand scheme of things. Imagine an EFM coming into town on his or her white horse and proceed to cancel union contracts and then give no-bid contracts to contractors getting guaranteed money. Who wins? The people or the contractors?

Good point. I had forgotten about all of the "Friends & Family" contracts that are currently in existence as well as the option to grant even more of them.

There's also the fact that I'm sure a great many people would love to have their hands on the City's two pension funds and all of the goodies therein attached to.

Okay - I'm convinced. I've changed my mind. Detroit will almost certainly have an EFM very soon.

Unless, of course, the law in question is ruled unconstitutional in the courts.

http://www.freep.com/article/2011042...xt|FRONTPAGE|s

[R8RBOB]

The Answer to your final Question is that if the mayor becomes the EFM, that office will supercede any election. The powers of EFM supecede the mayor.

That's why its important that city workers take the cuts that the Mayor is recommending. Because if an EFM gets appointed, whether its Dave Bing or not they can be without a job.

See this makes me wonder what the hell Gary Brown was thinking about when he suggested that the mayor be given EFM powers. If I was Dave Bing and the governor indeed do what Brown suggested, I would thank Gary Brown personally and then strip the City Council of their authority. If I'm the mayor and I have full authority to run the city, why do I need a council bitching about my moves?

[DetLiving]

Really? The Free Press wants City Council to take control of the budget. These are the same Councilmembers that raised their individual office budgets during last years budget process. This is the same Council that wanted to expand the current city council to 11 members. This is the same city council that wants Lansing to give more power to the Mayor, but let the Detroit City Council keep their power, their staff, their jobs and their money. The same city council that complained that they don't make enough money.

Really, what's wrong with this picture. Bring on the financial manager!

[begingri]

Editorial: Council must push Bing to stronger budget action

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's 2011-12 budget left lots to be desired, in lots of areas. There are soft revenue projections. There's a lack of innovative restructuring. And there's an overreliance on the goodwill or cooperation of others: unions, state legislators, private company owners.

But that's exactly the kind of budgeting that got Detroit into its current condition -- massive debt, plunging revenues and impending insolvency.

So unlike in past years, when the City Council has been quick to rein in mayoral budget cuts, the council now finds itself [[for the second year in a row, in fact) in the position of pushing the executive branch to be more realistic about the city's financial condition, and to act more swiftly to balance books that are horribly out of kilter.


Continued at: http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...to-mayor/page2

[Gistok]

Really? The Free Press wants City Council to take control of the budget. These are the same Councilmembers that raised their individual office budgets during last years budget process. This is the same Council that wanted to expand the current city council to 11 members. This is the same city council that wants Lansing to give more power to the Mayor, but let the Detroit City Council keep their power, their staff, their jobs and their money. The same city council that complained that they don't make enough money.

Really, what's wrong with this picture. Bring on the financial manager!

If you don't want mediocrity in employees, sometimes you have pay more for better. And as for the expansion of the council to 11 people and pay increase.... care to share your source.... don't remember reading about either issue....

[Locke09]

The Answer to your final Question is that if the mayor becomes the EFM, that office will supercede any election. The powers of EFM supecede the mayor.

That's why its important that city workers take the cuts that the Mayor is recommending. Because if an EFM gets appointed, whether its Dave Bing or not they can be without a job.

The Mayor just finished "imposing" contracts on city employees that included 10 percent pay cuts, benefit changes and changes to work conditions. They were imposed as his "final offer". Now, a few months later, he wants "renegotiate" for more concessions. Does the word "contract" mean anything anymore? What is the value of having a contract at all if a few months later someone can just come back and say: "Oops, I didn't take enough, I need more." How many more times will he have to come back before he gets it right?

His contracts are just as "fluid" as his administration. You don't know what to expect from one day to the next.

The only unions that don't have imposed contracts are those who had already basically agreed to his demands, and the police and fire who have binding arbitration. So actually, it is police and fire that create the biggest headache for the city in terms of taking concessions. I'd like to see Gary Brown go back to his former comrades in DPD and tell them they need to take concessions.

[R8RBOB]

I had a feeling that John Bennett would have his say on this, so I went to his website and this is what I read.

Brown offering up Detroit to financial Manager

City Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown is pushing for a consent agreement with the state to give Mayor Dave Bing sweeping financial powers similar to those of an emergency manager.

Brown said, "That allows the mayor and the council to stay and allows the mayor to have a lot of the tools the emergency manager would get," "The mayor needs those tools [[under the new law). That's a hammer, a powerful tool that the mayor could utilize to negotiate with the unions and get the concessions he needs."

In 2009 the people of Detroit went to the polls and elected Gary Brown to City Council. They did that because they thought he had ideas and a plan to help Detroit solve its financial problems. With this announcement from Councilman Brown he's let voters know that he does not have the answers and the confidence they showed in him and the vote they gave him was wasted. Councilman Brown suggested last week during Mayor Bing's budget address that the Mayor didn't go far enough and that he needed to cut another 1,000 workers and he wants to give the Mayor the tools to make these cuts under an agreement that would allow him to keep his job. Brown, in a manner of speaking is standing inside a storm shelter and bolting the door closed so the people on the outside can't get in. If he does not have the creative ability to participate in Detroit's rebirth he should resign now. What is very apparent from Brown's statement and willingness to turnover Detroit to an EFM is the question of why should the city maintain a nine [[9) member City Council or a full-time Council. If Detroit must have a financial Manager then everyone should feel the pain equally including City Council, then maybe we will finally be able to silence the disrespect and self-serving behavior of some Councilmembers.

[skyl4rk]

If the deficit is $150,000,000, and there are 713,777 residents, a one time special assessment of $210.55 per resident will eliminate that deficit amount. However this does not reflect the revenue sharing cuts imposed by Snyder, and apparently the deficit is growing.

City Council members seem to be pushing Bing to cut the budget even further than he already has, which is quite impressive and shows a great deal of responsibility.

It is unlikely that the state will allow any municipal to go bankrupt [[default on its debts). Instead, the residents and property owners will end up paying the bill.

I am very impressed with the progress made over the past few years, but the reality is that more cuts need to be made. The question is, can the Mayor and Council do it without the additional EFM powers?