Tag: Joke is on The Taxpayer

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.

Detroit - An attorney for the Detroit Board of Education says a lawsuit by the state Attorney General's office to remove seven board members is "racist" and "a fraud" and must be dropped.

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Still timely...

The mayor is welcoming word that the state plans to dedicate $25 million toward blight elimination efforts across Michigan, including $10 million in the city.
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Legislation passed Wednesday lists how the state will spend its $97 million share of a national settlement with banks over faulty foreclosure processes. According to the state attorney general's office, $10 million of the $25 million for anti-blight efforts would be allocated for use in Detroit.

Yup.  Another $97.2M crock of theft by our 2010 Majority.  $20M for "counseling"?  WTF?!?!

This year is different, with a level of fruit crop devastation not seen since the 1940s. Many growers aren't opening their camps this season, leaving migrants in a difficult situation.

"Many migrants came to Michigan or moved into different areas of Michigan and had work earlier in the summer in strawberries and blueberries and other crops not affected by the freezes," said Mollie Schweppe, director of the Michigan Department of Human Services Office of Migrant Affairs. "Then they normally move on to picking cherries and peaches, but since those crops were destroyed they have a gap in their income of four to six weeks potentially until the late summer crops are ready to be harvested such as squash, pumpkins, I hear there's still some work in pickles, there will be some apples available." An inter-agency migrant services committee worked quickly to come up with a means of assisting these workers. The Michigan State Housing and Development Authority has allocated $172,000 of its revenue for emergency housing assistance for migrant workers.

Through Aug. 31, the program will offer up to $400 to cover one month's rent either at a migrant camp or other rental property. The money should be able to help about 430 families, Schweppe said. Applications for the assistance must come from a household member that is in the country legally.
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Michigan has an estimated 90,700 migrant and seasonal farm workers and dependents, which includes some families that stay in Michigan year round, along with others that come from Texas, Florida or elsewhere for all or part of the harvesting season.

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I have to ask, has there been anybody excluded or not invited to belly up to the Michigan taxpayer trough?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Hellooooo?  That must mean it's a no.  Well, I guess the upside to this is that Lansing is at least requiring a frontman to have proper documentation.  Thanks Big Agra for stuffing us with boarding your temp pool.

Ah, apple season.  You know what that means?  Rep. "known as more of a workhorse than a show pony," it's finally safe to reach into your cellar committee where bills go to die and dust off HB 4024 and HB 4026 to send up for a floor vote.  It's OK bub, that little cherry secret is safe with me.  Just you, and I will know.

Mum's the word.  ;-]

A state fund intended to create 390 Michigan jobs has loaned $7.7 million to 35 companies and created 79 jobs - only 20 percent of the number initially promised.

Ann Arbor SPARK received an $8 million grant in 2006 to create the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, which used $7.7 million of that amount. The grant was awarded as part of the Competitive Edge Technology Grants and Loans program, which exists "to encourage the development of competitive edge technologies to create jobs in the state."

Skip Simms, manager of the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, said in an email, "We saw a need for early stage capital for start-up technology based companies, which the private sector wasn't providing at the time."

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But contrast the following bills included in the report to what happened in Wisconsin recently, where voters in effect confirmed major reforms enacted there last year:

Senate Bill 1125: Authorize more state government housing subsidy debt: Passed 33 to 5 in the Senate
House Bill 5246: Expand corporate research subsidies: Passed 87 to 20 in the House
House Bill 5541: Borrow more for university construction projects: Passed 85 to 23 in the House
House Bill 5705: Use Detroit utility tax for streetlights instead of police; raise city income tax: Passed 92 to 14 in the House
House Bill 5566: Increase school and local "deficit spending" debt: Passed 73 to 34 in the House

None of these bills would have passed without support from a majority of Republicans in either the House or Senate.

Adding to the discomfort, pension bureaucrats and the teachers union appear to have successfully stalled a Senate-passed bill to close the defined-benefit school pension to new hires, a transformational reform that would pay dividends for decades to come (it's not dead but may be delayed until next fall).