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Detroit Council Formulates Plan To Stave Off EFM

DETROIT (WWJ) - UPDATE: Council devised and released the following fiscal plan: View it here (.pdf format)

The Detroit City Council met Monday to discuss ways to avoid an emergency financial manager. That's in the wake of Mayor Dave Bing's plan to lay off 1,000 employees.

Council President Pro-Tem Gary Brown said they need more layoffs and concessions from the unions.

"We have to reform city government, you know, we can no longer have defined benefit retirement plans," Brown said. "We have to have 401's. We have to switch over to 401's and then we're also going to spend a lot of time talking about ways in which we can bring in new revenue."

Leaders of Detroit's major employee unions plan to meet with Bing this week to talk about the city's ailing budget. Critics say the city is focused on busting the unions, not saving money.

Will the two sides come together on a solution?

"I can't predict what the mayor's going to do ... I know this ... If we don't come together and speak with one voice on one plan and we don't agree to implement that plan, then the inevitable's going to happen," Brown said.

In the meantime, Detroit police are investigating 16 members of their own after they failed to complete their shifts Friday in an apparent protest over those planned cuts.

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