Flint likely to get Emergency Manager

A review board voted unanimously to recommend that Gov. Snyder appoint an Emergency Manager for the city of Flint and the Treasury Department says the governor agrees with that recommendation.

The recommendation accompanies the review team’s report to Gov. Rick Snyder, which says a “local government financial emergency” exists in the city, and “no satisfactory plan exists to resolve the emergency.”

The review team declined to pursue the option of a “consent agreement” with local elected leaders to resolve the financial problems because “it would not afford an efficacious remedy to the financial emergency,” according to the team’s 10-page report.

Michigan Department of Treasury Spokesman Terry Stanton said Snyder concurred with the unanimous opinion by the financial review team.

The city has seven days to request a hearing in front of the governor or his designee, Stanton said.

Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, immediately released a statement blaming Snyder and the Republican-led state legislature for deep cuts in revenue sharing that made the city’s financial situation worse:

“Today’s announcement regarding Flint’s finances on Election Day in Flint is despicable and clearly politically motivated. The so-called crisis in Flint is a creation of the Governor’s policy attacks on our urban areas and working families. Earlier this year, the Governor chose to pass on the state’s financial problems to local communities like Flint by cutting their revenue sharing by 50%. That meant a $8 million cut in revenues to the City of Flint. Was there any question that that type of cut would have a negative impact on the city’s finances? Snyder, Treasurer Dillon and the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for creating a false emergency like this for their own political gain.”