Council Members Want To See Deficit Elimination Plan Sent To State

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit City Council members are accusing Mayor Dave Bing of not giving them the same deficit elimination plan he turned over to the state. Some Council members Friday even threatened to subpoena Bing for a copy of the plan.  But, Councilman James Tate wasn't among them.

"I personally believe that this is premature, as I said at the table, I don't have any evidence that there was anything presented to the governor different than what we received, and I don't know if there is any mandate that there must be the same document presented at the same time," says Tate.

Tate says Council is scheduled to meet with members of Bing's administration on Tuesday to discuss the Mayor's plans to eliminate the city's $155 million dollar budget deficit and fend off a state appointed emergency financial manager.

"We are going to be meeting with the administration to get a more drawn out plan in terms of more specific details of how this deficit elimination plan is going to play out. To be honest when I saw it, I saw a spread sheet with numbers and words as opposed to narrative," says Tate.

A recent Detroit Auditor General report has determined that Mayor Bing's budget and five year deficit elimination plan is overly optimistic and much deeper cuts are needed to eliminate the city's $155 million dollar deficit.