Tag: EFM too 'divisive'?

City and state leaders have agreed on a milestone agreement that supports the city's reform agenda, officials announced Thursday.

Completion of the milestone agreement is a key component to the state releasing the bond money in an escrow account needed for the city's cash crunch. Officials said Monday the city would run out of cash by the end of the year if it was not able to draw down $10 million by next week and $20 million by mid-December.

Told you it would happen.  Heck, even the bad actors in the Snyder Administration are faking it so not to be the ones stuck holding the bag when this blows up in their face.

State Treasurer Andy Dillon said the agreement gives Detroit "a transparent roadmap" to get the bond money, but he's still concerned about the progress that's been made on the reform agenda.

"The funds from the bond proceeds were never intended to fund the status quo in Detroit, but rather aid with its government reforms," Dillon said in a released statement. "While some progress has been made in the city since the signing of the financial stability agreement in June, it is moving slower than what all parties would have anticipated. There is still much work to be done."

Much work to be done, Andy?  Like what?  Forcing the taxpayers of Michigan to be stuck with more junk bonds for the decades of unaccountable "protected class" Democratic Party rule in Detroit?  No más, Señor Tesorero Dillon.  Like it or not, the Consent Agreement was not agreed to in good faith.  Not by Mayor Bing, nor by City Council, and most certainly not by Corporation Counsel.

It is time for Governor Snyder to be held accountable too.  It way past being painfully obvious when those who are viewed as crossing over to the dark side from time to time have reached their wits end with an alleged fiscal conservative governor enabling his spoiled rotten children to carry on by throwing money at them.

Either the city wants to be a full participant in its financial rescue or the governor should, to quote a famous failed presidential candidate, let Detroit go bankrupt.

The governor should not be in a position of wanting more for the city than it wants for itself.

Comprender?  The sad part for the rest of the state is that anyone watching the charade happening in Detroit, knows that in 2013 we'll still be having the same results.

That's racists you say?  See here.

via WXYZ

City Council President Charles Pugh is facing foreclosure and says he likely will abandon his $385,000 Brush Park condominium.

His personal financial struggles come as he and council colleagues fight to bail Detroit out of its own fiscal crisis.

On Friday, Pugh said he can't afford to pay his mortgage after taking a pay cut and leaving a high-paying TV career to run for the City Council.

"Making my mortgage payments has been a struggle for me," Pugh wrote in an email. "I fought hard to stay in my condo because I had an attachment to it, but I can no longer afford to do so."

The mortgage issue is the latest financial problem facing Pugh, 40, a former Fox 2 television anchor and radio show host who was the top vote-getter in the 2009 election. He is paid $76,500 as council president.

"I am devoted to this city and helping us to move forward despite wage cuts and personal sacrifices such as foreclosing on my own home," Pugh said. "These are the tough choices Detroiters make every day, and I am no different."

Pugh is still living in the condo and would like to keep it, but he needs a "substantial decrease" in the mortgage, spokeswoman Kirsten Ussery said.

As the city nears financial collapse, owners erased at least $4.7 million in property taxes and liens this fall on more than 400 properties Wayne County appeared to sell back to them for pennies on the dollar, according to a Detroit News analysis.

That's double the number of buybacks found at 2010's Wayne County tax foreclosure auction. In many cases, no one else bids other than the former property owners, who can reclaim the properties for as little as $500 apiece.

The increase has a top aide to Mayor Dave Bing and others calling on Wayne County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz or the state Legislature to crack down.

"Unfortunately, some laws have loopholes, and in this case results in others exploiting matters for their personal advantage at the expense of responsible taxpayers and the city," Kirk Lewis, Bing's chief of staff, said in a statement.

"Legislative remedies must address and prevent the myriad of ways these property owners can scam the system for their personal gain."

State law allows Wojtowicz to ban owners from buying back their foreclosed properties. Macomb County officials did so this year, but Wojtowicz said it would be too hard to police in Detroit, where he sold a record 5,200 properties at October's auction.

Eliminating the threat of losing a serious revenue stream, the city will now collect $90 million in income and utility taxes under two bills signed into law today by Gov. Rick Snyder.

Flanked by Mayor Dave Bing, Snyder approved the bills that "are critically important for the financial success of the city."

Great photo-op, eh?  I can almost hear Granholm saying, "We're all in this together."

Bing thanked the governor for his part in shepherding the legislation through and "of building a true partnership between Lansing and the city of Detroit."