Flint, Michigan Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====First financial emergency: 2002β2004==== By 2002, Flint had accrued $30 million in debt.<ref name=fj2>{{cite news|last=Mostafavi|first=Beata|title=What happened last time? A look back at Flint's 2002 state takeover|url=http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/11/what_happened_last_time_a_look.html|access-date=December 5, 2011|newspaper=The Flint Journal|date=November 10, 2011}}</ref> On March 5, 2002, the city's voters [[recall election|recalled]] Mayor [[Woodrow Stanley]]. On May 22, [[Governor of Michigan|Governor]] [[John Engler]] declared a financial emergency in Flint, and on July 8 the state appointed an [[Financial emergency in Michigan|emergency financial manager]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Longley|first=Kristin|title=Flint would be only Michigan city to twice undergo emergency state takeover|url=http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/11/flint_would_be_only_michigan_c.html|access-date=November 14, 2011|newspaper=The Flint Journal|date=November 8, 2011}}</ref> Ed Kurtz. The emergency financial manager displaced the temporary mayor, [[Darnell Earley]], in the city administrator position. In August 2002, city voters elected former Mayor [[James W. Rutherford|James Rutherford]] to finish the remainder of Stanley's term of office. On September 24, Kurtz commissioned a salary and wage study for top city officials from an outside accounting and consulting firm. The financial manager then installed a new code enforcement program for annual rental inspections and emergency demolitions. On October 8, Kurtz ordered cuts in pay for the mayor (from $107,000 to $24,000) and the City Council members (from $23,000 to $18,000). He also eliminated insurance benefits for most officials. After spending $245,000 fighting the takeover, the City Council ended the lawsuits on October 14. Immediately thereafter on October 16, a new interim financial plan was put in place by the manager. This plan initiated controls on hiring, overnight travel and spending by city employees. On November 12, Kurtz directed the city's retirement board to stop unusual pension benefits, which had decreased some retiree pensions by 3.5%. Kurtz sought the return of overpayments to the pension fund. However, in December, the state attorney general stated that emergency financial managers do not have authority over the retirement system. With contract talks stalled, Kurtz stated that there either need to be cuts or layoffs to union employees. That same month, the city's recreation centers were temporarily closed.<ref name="fj2" /> Emergency measures continued in 2003. In May, Kurtz increased water and sewer bills by 11% and shut down operations of the ombudsman's office. In September, a 4% pay cut was agreed to by the city's largest union. In October, Kurtz moved in favor of infrastructure improvements, authorizing $1 million in sewer and road projects. [[Don Williamson]] was elected a full-term mayor and sworn in on November 10. In December, city audits reported nearly $14 million in reductions in the city deficit. For the 2003β2004 budget year, estimates decreased that amount to between $6 million and $8 million.<ref name="fj2" /> With pressure from Kurtz for large layoffs and replacement of the board on February 17, 2004, the City Retirement Board agreed to four proposals reducing the amount of the city's contribution into the system. On March 24, Kurtz indicated that he would raise the City Council's and the mayor's pay, and in May, Kurtz laid off 10 workers as part of 35 job cuts for the 2004β05 budget. In June 2004, Kurtz reported that the financial emergency was over.<ref name="fj2" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page