Outgoing Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr told a state oversight board on Friday that he's prepared to ask a federal judge to make the city's exit from bankruptcy official next week, and that he'll resign, leaving the city with a one-time, $100 million surplus, The Detroit Free Press reported on Friday. Orr, speaking to the Financial Review Commission, which has had oversight of the city’s finances for at least 13 years, said that he intends to sign his final order as EM next week, "recommending to you and the governor that the financial emergency is completed, and I would resign." If accepted by Gov. Rick Snyder, that would fully restore government powers to Detroit's elected officials, except that the city will remain under the oversight of the review commission and must stay within the confines of its bankruptcy exit plan, which lays out goals for fiscal stability and reinvestment in critical city services over the next 10 years. Orr would present the order to Hon. Steven Rhodes, but Orr said that it is highly unlikely that the judge will reject the exit plan since he approved Detroit's bankruptcy adjustment plan last month. The date Orr selects will mark Detroit's official exit from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, with the city shedding $7 billion of its $18 billion in debts and liabilities and instituting a plan to spend $1.4 billion on blight removal and improving city services over the next decade.
