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GM CEO Akerson Supports Bing's Plan For Detroit

DETROIT (WWJ) - One of Detroit's biggest corporate citizens stands behind Mayor Dave Bing, who's looking at a possible tax increase to help ease the city's budget woes.

Asked by a reporter how he would feel about such a move, General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson had this reaction:

"I think that it's important, for us to be able to attract and retain people, to have a strong, viable, vital Detroit."

At the same time, said Akerson, the city needs a strong, viable and vital General Motors.

"We were in jeopardy two or three years ago, and I think the city obviously has some fiscal issues and I think that it is in the best interest of all our citizens in this area, this city and this state, to have a strong, viable Detroit," he said, adding that he hasn't had a chance to study Bing's proposal, but he trusts the mayor's leadership.

Saying the city could run out of cash by April and have a $45 million deficit by the end of June, Bing Wednesday evening outlined his plans to resolve Detroit's fiscal crisis.

Those plans include city workers taking a 10 percent pay cut, paying 10 percent more for benefits and foregoing their furlough days, city retirees paying more for benefits and businesses paying more taxes. (More on this, here).

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