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Dave
Bing
wants
concessions
from
employee
unions
to
prevent
state
takeover
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det) -
Detroit
Mayor
Dave
Bing has
addressed
city
residents
and
called
for
municipal
unions
to
accept
10
percent
pay cuts
and
Michigan
leaders
in
Lansing
to come
through
with 200
+
millions
owed the
city so
the
struggling
community
can
avoid
falling
into the
hands of
a state
emergency
finance
manager.
Bing
told an
audience
at the
Northwest
Activity
Center
Wednesday
night
that the
city
faces a
$45
million
cash
shortfall
by the
end of
its
fiscal
year
next
June.
The city
has an
accumulated
deficit
about
$150
million
in its
$3.1
billion
annual
budget.
He says
Detroit
"is in a
financial
crisis,
and city
government
is
broken."
Bing
also
laid to
rest,
for now,
he has
no
desire
to bring
an EFM
saying,
"Let me
make one
thing
perfectly
clear,"
Bing
said. "I
don’t
want an
emergency
manager
making
decisions
for my
city. I
am your
mayor
and I
want to
continue
to lead
the City
back.
"Shortly
after
Bing's
address,
Gov.
Rick
Snyder
issued a
statement
saying,
“I have
consistently
said
that as
we work
to
reinvent
Michigan,
the City
of
Detroit
must
thrive.
Mayor
Bing and
I have
worked
closely
over
this
past
year and
I remain
supportive
of the
city’s
efforts
to
resolve
its
financial
problems.
“As I
have
said
previously
on this
issue, I
want to
avoid an
emergency
manager
if at
all
possible.
Based on
the
mayor’s
remarks
tonight
and the
severity
of the
situation
he
described,
we
anticipate
he will
be
submitting
a
request
for a
preliminary
financial
review
in the
near
future",
said
Snyder.
City
Council
Pro-tem
Gary
Brown
said, "I
am
disappointed
following
the
mayor’s
public
address
last
night
(Wednesday,
November
16). I
expected
to hear
from him
a plan
and a
timeline
to
address
cash
flow
immediately
so that
we may
fulfill
the
City’s
obligations,
not
witness
a
political
speech
brimming
with a
false
hope of
relief."
"We face
an
emergency
cash
flow
situation
that
must be
resolved
now with
the
clock
ticking
more
quickly.
As a
fiscal
pragmatist
I will
not
waver in
augmenting
genuine
efforts
by my
council
colleagues
to
further
reduce
our
operating
costs as
we
discuss
a
plan-of-action
following
the
mayor’s
speech."
Bing
repeated
his call
for
unionized
workers
to
accept a
10
percent
wage
cut, a
10
percent
increase
in
employee
payments
for
health
insurance
and
changes
in work
rules.
He said
the
worker
concessions
would
save
Detroit
$40
million
for the
fiscal
year.
"This is
not an
attack
on labor
or our
dedicated
employees,"
he said.
"The
private
sector,
including
the auto
industry
was
forced
to
accept
tough
cuts to
survive."
Bing
said he
also was
asking
Gov.
Rick
Snyder
and the
state
Legislature
to give
Detroit
$220
million
because
the
state
failed
to keep
a
bargain
to
maintain
state
revenue
sharing
in
exchange
for the
city's
cut in
income
tax
rates a
decade
ago.
"If we
want
Detroit
to
succeed,
all of
us have
to put
some
skin in
the
game,"
he said.
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