LANSING – One day after Governor Rick Snyder unveiled his proposal for the state to commit $350 million over the next 20 years toward the pensions of retired Detroit city government employees to mitigate reductions to those pensions due to the city’s bankruptcy, several suburban Detroit legislators are asking for more specifics before committing to a stance on the matter.
“People are looking at it from different angles, different geographic points, different ideas about fiscal responsibility, so there are a lot of issues to work through,” Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) told reporters after session of his caucus’ support level.
“We’ve got a tendency for the (Senate) Government Operations Committee in the past as a graveyard for things that don’t move, but we’ve used it in this term to be a vehicle to look at big picture things that maybe affect more than just one committee or two committees,” he said. “So there’s a chance I’ll take it. It might go to Appropriations. We haven’t really thought that through yet.”
He said discussions among Snyder, himself, and the Senate Republican caucus have been pretty general in nature.
“It’s really just trying to get our arms around what the proposal says in detail before we move forward,” he said.
Much of the discussion among majority Senate Republicans has been that either money should not go strictly to just Detroit or concern that if and when it does, it could set a precedent for other communities that are struggling.
“For me, I want to see more details, and they refer to strings. … In some cases, maybe it needs to be more than a string, maybe it needs to be rope, and I’m referring to transparency and accountability and things of that nature,” Sen. James Marleau (R-Lake Orion) said. “So until I see more of that, I respect everything that was presented … (but) I’m concerned we have other entities that are in difficulty, my Pontiac School District is being one.”
He continued: “The question is, is the state going to be there every single time? Where do we call the line? I believe in fairness, so what we do for Detroit we might have to do for Flint, for Muskegon, for Ecorse, and so again, I think we need to look at the big thing.”
Overall, Marleau said he is open to the ideas.
“Time is of the essence and we have to turn (Detroit) around, and that’s why we need to look at all of these things,” he said. “I think … you have to do something, because doing nothing isn’t going to work, and so that’s the situation.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton Township) had a different view of the situation. While he said he too needs to review the proposal more in detail, he wants a solution that’s “fiscally responsible on the part of the state,” he said.
“If we do any targeted bailout for the city of Detroit that does not recognize that other people, other citizens of the state of Michigan share in that burden … then we’ve got to make sure we distribute this all in a fair and equitable manner,” he said. “Nobody wants a targeted bailout for Detroit. I think people are tired of throwing money down a hole that never seems to get fixed.”
He does think that people are optimistic a good management team may be coming in, he said, but the financials are still risky for anyone that gets involved.
“I’m more inclined that we say we just treat this like we’ve always treated it and just make sure that we do revenue sharing in accordance with something that’s fair for everybody, so the good actors in that scenario are the ones that are going to be able to go off and take that money and invest it in things,” he said. “The bad actors have to go off and shore up their pensions and honor their obligation to their (community).”
Asked about using money other than that from the tobacco settlement, Colbeck said that is “just an accounting gimmick” anyway.
“I’m just looking at our overall income statement that we have at this state and keep subtracting until we run out of money or keep adding until we get enough money to go off and support,” he said. “Wherever it comes, it’s all got to add up to a point where we have a balanced budget at the end of the year.”
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