A federal judge was expected to rule today on Detroit’s plan to emerge from the nation’s largest-ever municipal bankruptcy filing, the New York Times reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes is to present his decision from the bench on Friday afternoon, and he was widely expected to accept Detroit’s exit plan. Acceptance of the proposal would end more than 15 months under court protection for this struggling city. It would allow Detroit, which had accumulated about $18 billion of debt before filing for reorganization in July 2013, to shed $7 billion in debt and to invest in long-neglected city services. The exit plan sets aside $1.7 billion over a decade to remove blighted buildings, to buy fire trucks and ambulances, and to upgrade the city’s antiquated computer systems. Detroit has spent about $150 million on lawyers, experts and other bankruptcy costs, city officials say.
