Detroit City Council backs repeal of Emergency Manager law

The Detroit City Council has approved a resolution calling for a repeal of the law that allows the governor to appoint people to take over local governments.

On Tuesday the council approved language urging the people of Michigan to support the effort to repeal Public Act 4 — the Emergency Manager law.

The resolution states:

WHEREAS, March 16, 2011, the Governor of the State of Michigan signed into law, Public Act 4 of 2011, the “Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act”, and;

WHEREAS, this act vastly expands the powers granted to Emergency Managers, in a fashion that challenges to dismantle Democracy in Michigan cities, towns, villages, counties and school districts, and;

WHEREAS, this act allows appointed managers to assume broad and complete authority in the designated local municipality, without transparency or accountability;this law gives expanded power to elite bureaucrats to sell public assets,shred public contracts and dissolve governments and remove elected officials, and;

WHEREAS, the number of municipalities and school districts in Michigan under emergency management should not be increased but reduced; their expanded powers eliminate accountability to the citizens of Michigan in local government and fog the regular checks, balances and transparency found in Democracy; and;

WHEREAS, changes in Michigan’s business tax system under the Snyder administration has created a $1.7 billion deficit, this deficit is being leveraged on Michigan’s core communities with reduced shared revenue, higher taxes on seniors and working families; diminishing local revenue flow,and;

WHEREAS, the state of Michigan’s $220 million debt with the city of Detroit, prolongs the city’s ability to emerge from deficit and achieve financial stability, and;

WHEREAS, the drastic changes in revenue sharing places Detroit and many of Michigan’s core communities and school districts at risk of receivership and under total control of elite bureaucrats; the people of the State of Michigan can repeal Public Act 4 through the election process, using the power of Democracy by initiating a ballot referendum on this legislation; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Detroit City Council supports the referendum and the repeal of Public Act 4 of 2011, and;

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, the Detroit City Council urges local elected officials, elected State Representatives and Senators, and the people of the State of Michigan to support the repeal of the “Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act.”

The resolution was introduced by Brandon Jessup of Michigan Forward, a group that is coordinating a statewide effort to repeal the law through the referendum process.

The Detroit Public Schools have been placed under the control of an Emergency Manager and the city workers’ pension funds are challenging the Emergency Manager law in federal court.