We wrote about the Michigan GOP governor's use of the Emergency Manager laws here. It's basically the power to place "financially troubled" cities, towns, and public entities (like school boards) under the control of a governor-controlled czar with full power to:
(1) kill any contract the town entered into AND (2) dismiss elected officials AND (3) "disincorporate" the town itself. Oh, and the emergency manager can be a corporation.That power has already been used against the town of Benton Harbor and others. Now it looks like the old GM factory city of Flint is next (my emphasis; h/t Emptywheel and Eclectablog):
Flint could become the first city to get taken over by the state since Gov. Rick Snyder approved sweeping new powers for appointed Emergency Managers.Flint is the seventh largest city in Michigan, and Genesee county (don't you love those midwestern Indian names?) is the state's fourth largest metropolitan area, with a population of almost 500,000.
On Friday Flint Mayor Dayne Walling announced that the [Michigan] Treasury Dept. has initiated an official review of the city’s finances.
Under Public Act 4 — the Emergency Manager law — financial review is the first step in a process that can confer new powers to elected officials or transfer all decision-making power to an Emergency Manager who reports only to the Treasury Dept. and the governor.
Benton Harbor, Pontiac, Ecorse and the Detroit Public Schools are now being run by Emergency Managers.
The Highland Park School District is also on that path:
Gov. Rick Snyder is to appoint a team to conduct a "financial management review" of Highland Park Schools, moving the troubled district closer to appointment of an emergency manager.Highland Park is a small town bordered by Detroit and Hamtramck (another great name); its population is nearly 95% African-American.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan sent a letter to Snyder this month asking him to order the review after Flanagan's preliminary study determined the district had the state's worst deficit and most drastic enrollment drop. ... Under a controversial new law, the manager would control the district's finances and operations and have the power to amend union contracts.
Board Secretary Robert Davis said the board and Superintendent Edith Hightower are following the state's directions to reduce its deficit. "I don't think an emergency manager will be necessary," Davis said. ... Davis said the drop was mainly due to the 2009 closure of the Career Academy, an alternative high school [and] said the board is consolidating and privatizing services to eliminate the deficit in three to four years.
Of course, you can't appoint Emergency Managers without an emergency, even if you have to create it yourself:
One of Governor Rick Snyder's top priorities this fall is phasing out the personal property tax.Mmm, more Emergency Managers in their future.
Summer Minnick with the Michigan Municipal League doesn't disagree with that part of the plan so much. Minnick says administrating the tax is complicated and costs local governments quite a bit of money to assess. The problem is, it also generates about $1.2 billion annually with around $800 million of that money going to those same local governments.
"It is a critical component of a municipality's budget," said Minnick. "In many cases it can be 20 to 50 percent of the city's entire taxable value so it's something we're very concerned with."
Remind me again — why does anyone vote for a Republican these days? They give the GOP a knife to stick in someone else's back, and it just ends up in their own. Sad, really.
GP
