City Budget Expected To Seek More City Worker Concessions

DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit Mayor Dave Bing will deliver his 2011/12 budget address to City Council Tuesday. But as WWJ's Florence Walton reports Council wants a realistic budget that will keep the governor from sending in an emergency financial manager to run the city.

City Council President Charles Pugh says the city can't afford  revenue projections that don't materialize. It's a concern when Mayor Bing presents his budget.

"We have looked at the Mayor's budget proposal, and we are a little concerned about, again, these revenues that may not materialize. We raised holy hell last year about that $20 million dollars from DTE that was recorded as revenue, and so now we have a hole," says Pugh.

"We are going to be paying more as a city for benefits than we do for salaries...that's unsustainable," Pugh says.

"We can not lose sight of something called an Emergency Manager Law, that was not just signed by the governor with some peripheral involvement, he wrote the damn law, so he is ready to implement it," adds Pugh.

However, Pugh agrees with Bing that more concessions are needed from city workers to help the city eliminate its budget deficit. This budget is expected to ask for more concessions from city workers, and propose deep cuts in health care and fringe benefits.