Detroit To Lay Off 1,000 Workers

By Jerome Vaughn of WDET and Rick Pluta of Michigan Public Radio

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has announced plans to lay off one thousand city workers. The layoffs are being instituted to help ease Detroit's budget crisis.

During an address to city residents Wednesday, Bing said the city could run out of money within a few months without drastic action and could face a $45 million dollar cash shortfall by this summer.

The city says the layoffs will save $14 million dollars by the end of the fiscal year.

Layoff notices will be delivered in January. The positions will be eliminated by late February.

The mayor is also ordering a hiring freeze for all civil service positions except for those covered by a previous court order.

The Bing Administration says 2,000 positions have already been cut since 2009.

Governor Rick Snyder says he expects the city to seek a state review of the city's finances, which would begin a process that could wind up with a state takeover of the city government. 

The Republican leader of the state House says Detroit should not look to the state for more money, as the city tries to fix its finances. House Speaker Jase Bolger was responding to Bing, who said this week that Lansing should keep a promise made in the 1990s to protect its revenue-sharing payments if the city cut its income tax.

Bolger says that promise did not come from any Republicans currently serving in Lansing, where lawmakers have made tough choices to balance the state budget. One of those choices was reducing money for local governments.

"I was disappointed to hear him ask for more revenue," Bolger remarked in an interview with Michigan Public Television. "There's difficult decisions that need to be made. I think he can make those decisions, and we're looking to him and the city council to make those decisions.

"But the state can't stand by. Under no circumstances, should the city of Detroit fail."  

Bolger says the Legislature has already extended the city's ability to levy taxes on income and utility bills, and offered local governments new options to reduce employee costs.