Detroit to cut 1,000 jobs amid budget crisis
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011 in Detroit. / Daniel Mears,AP Photo/Detroit News
DETROIT - Detroit plans to cut 1,000 jobs by early next year to help deal with the city's budget crisis and avoid the possibility of a state-appointed emergency financial manager, Mayor Dave Bing announced Friday.
The mayor's office said that departments will identify their number of layoffs starting the week of Dec. 5 and layoff notices will be issued starting the week of Jan. 21. The administration said the cuts, which represent 9 percent of the city's workforce of about 11,000 employees, will save about $14 million this fiscal year.
"Solving our cash crisis requires a combination of concessions and tough cuts," Bing said. "Layoffs will be strategic. We will limit the impact on residents, protecting core services like police and fire protection as much as we can.
"Our fiscal crisis will require everyone to share in the sacrifice. We need support from our residents to help push our unions, businesses, vendors and elected officials to enact the common-sense changes we need."
Al Garrett, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25 in Michigan, said unions haven't been notified so he doesn't yet know who it will affect. But he doesn't think the layoffs are good for the residents or the 3,500 city workers AFSCME represents.
"We understand there is a fiscal crisis," he said. "We want to work with the city of Detroit to the extent we can, but to lay off at the same time they're asking for these Draconian cuts is not helpful at all. ... Laying people off means further reductions in services."
On Wednesday, Bing said in a TV and radio address that the city faces a $45 million cash shortfall by the end of its fiscal year in June.
The mayor said the positions will be eliminated by Feb. 25. He said additional 2,000 positions have been eliminated since he took office in 2009. And he has outlined concessions needed from unions representing municipal employees, such as taking a 10 percent wage cut and making pension reforms, to save $40 million.
Bing also ordered an immediate hiring freeze for all civil service positions except the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. He said the department was exempted because of court orders involving its operation.
Despite the financial crisis, Kirk Lewis, Bing's chief of staff, said the mayor does not plan to seek a state review of the city's finances. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said in a statement Wednesday after Bing's address that the state anticipated a request for the review, which is a step in the process that could lead to an appointment of an emergency financial manager by the state.
Snyder said Friday he appreciated that Bing laid bare the city's financial situation, which the governor called "severe." Snyder said he has "no desire to see an emergency manager in Detroit," but conversations continue between the city and state over financial matters including whether a state review should take place.
Garrett said his union doesn't favor the review or the appointment of a financial manager. He would like to see the state consider helping Detroit and other struggling cities by distributing what could amount to at least $285 million — more money in taxes and fees than was previously expected in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
The numbers aren't final, and there's no guarantee state fiscal analysts will decide there's any extra money. Still, if a surplus comes to pass, Garrett said it should not be kept in a rainy-day fund.
"They should acknowledge that it's raining all over the state, and we're in a hurricane in the city of Detroit," Garrett said.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Serena Williams sorry for "what I supposedly said" on rape 67 Comments
- TWA Flight 800 gets another look 17 years later 112 Comments
- TWA Flight 800 disaster - a look back 19 Photos
- 3 football players charged in Naval Academy rape case
- FBI: No sign of Jimmy Hoffa's body in Detroit suburb 59 Comments
- America's endangered historic places 11 Photos
- Reporter Michael Hastings dies at 33
- FBI finds possible remains at gangster's NYC home
Government is a disaster in this Country. The Democrat's cannot come to grips with making cuts. The Republican's cannot accept tax increases. But unfortunately both are going to be needed.
Some seem to think we can tax ourselves out of this mess. Look at Europe. It has attempted high taxes and massive benefits, and Europe is on the verge of going bankrupt. California and Detroit have tried the same thing, and they both are going bankrupt. I hate to rain on the parade, but we are broke. We have to stop looking at what we want the federal government to do for us. There is no money. WE NEED TO GROW UP, AND WE NEED TO DO IT IN A HURRY!
Most people would love to have something for nothing, but it doesn't work that way. Each of us has a wish list of things we would like the federal government to do for us. The problem is that there isn't enough money. There isn't enough money to continue spending like we are if we robbed the so called "1%" of every dime they have earned.
The spending has gone out of control, and unless it is seriously reigned in the United States will collapse economically. This is real. This isn't a video game or a movie. Unless we seriously reduce the size and scope of the federal government, the nation will collapse under the weight of an unbelievably huge national debt. Then what will people do? A smaller functioning federal government beats total collapse any day of the week.
The party is over. We have spent the well dry, and it is time to live according to our means. This is real. The games have to stop. We have to seriously make huge cuts in the size and scope of the federal government, unless we are all OK with a national collapse of the greatest nation the world has ever seen. I pray to God that Americans still care about the future of this nation, and about the future we hand to our children. The self serving party has to come to an end.