Flint, Mich., has faced its share of setbacks over the years — shuttered factories, dwindling population and urban decay, to name a few — but none has cast as dark a shadow as the prospect of filing for municipal bankruptcy protection, the Detroit News reported today. The struggling Genesee County community may soon be pushed over the financial cliff by a lawsuit. A group of city retirees is suing the city to stop proposed cuts to their health care benefits — a $5 million annual burden that could force Flint to become Michigan’s second-largest municipality to file for chapter 9 protection, following on the heels of Detroit. “The city won’t be able to stay solvent at this rate,” said Emergency Manager Darnell Earley. “I don’t want to see a bankruptcy in the city of Flint, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen. If we get no relief from that retiree health care, then we have to start talking about that.” Today, nearly one-third of its population lives in poverty. Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost and about 15 percent of the workforce is unemployed. And the population — once nearly 200,000, ranking it as Michigan’s second largest city — struggles to stay above the 100,000 mark.
