Pontiac and Flint Leaders Urge State Officials to Repeal Emergency Financial Manager Law
(Crystal Proxmire, March 5, 2023)
Flint, Pontiac, MI – On Feb. 1, State Representative Brenda Carter introduced a bill to repeal 2012 PA 436 (MCL 141.1541 – 141.1575), the state emergency manager act. Carter was backed up by 29 co-sponsors, and two Michigan cities so far have passed resolutions of support. Both Flint and Pontiac were among the communities that had emergency financial managers put in place.
The law was enacted in 2012 and allowed the state to appoint emergency managers to be in charge of cities and school districts that are in financial distress. It authorizes the emergency manager to change the local government’s budget, sell, lease or assign assets, apply for state loans on the local government’s behalf, suspend collective bargaining agreements, modify or terminate existing contracts, exercise power over the local pension board, consolidate or eliminate local government departments, and decide whether to fill or create staff positions.There were no provisions for local review or control.
Carter said the law has “had devastating financial consequences for many municipalities.”
“As a former member of the Pontiac School Board, I know firsthand the damage to communities that emergency managers cause,” Carter said. “These un-elected individuals come into low-income communities and completely supersede the elected body. As with the school district of the city of Pontiac, the consent agreement consultant, another form of emergency management, came into Pontiac and sold off assets worth millions for pennies on the dollar; all of this in the name of saving money. Creating emergency managers was a terrible idea that opened the door to discrimination against and the decimation of low-income, primarily Black communities. It’s time we right this wrong by repealing this law and returning the power to the people.”
Pontiac passed a resolution supporting the repeal, as did Flint.
Representative Carter told Oakland County Times, “The resolution was initiated by Flint City Councilman Quincy Murphy. He was the first to support my bill HB 4065, the repeal of the emergency manager act. Councilman William Carrington followed suit in Pontiac, and now I hear Councilwoman Angela Calloway of Detroit is working on a resolution to do the same.”
In Pontiac city assets were sold, and the Phoenix Center was slated to be demolished, putting the City in a years long legal battle with adjacent property owners. The police department was dissolved and law enforcement was turned over to the county. Efforts to revive the downtown were dismantled. Scores of people – many of whom were also Pontiac residents – lost their jobs.
And in Flint, lives were put at risk due to decisions by emergency management that changed the water system and led to residents being poisoned by lead, and suffering without usable water.
Prior to the 2012 law, there have been previous emergency manager laws dating back to 1988. In Nov. 2012 Michigan residents voted to repeal the previous law. Within weeks of the election, legislators voted on a new act, this time making it referendum-proof by attaching an appropriation. The bill to repel the act is currently in the Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee.
Read more about the bill on the State of Michigan Legislative website.