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Gov. Snyder To Discuss Detroit Finances Thursday

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is planning to discuss Detroit's financial situation on Thursday.

The governor is expected to hold an afternoon round table with the media in Detroit. Snyder's office said he isn't planning to announce if he'll appoint an emergency manager, but instead to provide an update on where things stand.

The Republican governor has less than a month to decide whether the state will take over the city's broken finances and send in someone to oversee a recovery.

 

After spending weeks looking at the city's books, a state-appointed review team released a report Tuesday saying Detroit's deficit could have reached $900 million last fiscal year had it not borrowed enormous amounts of money. The city's long-term liabilities, including underfunded pensions, are more than $14 billion.

The report also said the city's bureaucratic structure makes it difficult to solve the financial problems.

Some fiscal experts believe the city's only way out may be municipal bankruptcy, but state Treasurer Andy Dillon said answers could be found if the city and state work together.

In a live interview on WWJ Newsradio 950 on Wednesday, Dillon stressed that he believes an emergency manager would be the catalyst to make that happen. "The mayor and council really have come together in the last six months and have done a lot," said Dillon. "But I just think that the problem is so great and the challenges presented by the governing structure of the city as well, as the charter, make it necessary to have one person that's in charge who can  start to begin the turn around of the city of Detroit."  (Listen to the interview here).

Snyder has said he'll carefully review the team's findings before deciding whether to appoint an emergency manager.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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