Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley said that the city may be Michigan’s second to plunge into municipal bankruptcy unless retirees accept cuts in health benefits that threaten to unravel a balanced budget, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The specter intensifies the conflict over finances in the city of 100,000, which twice has been under state control. Like Detroit, which a year ago this week filed the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy, Flint has struggled with loss of population, jobs and revenue. The birthplace of General Motors Co. has only half its population of 1960. “If we have no ability to mitigate the cost of retiree health care, that’s going to make it very difficult for the city to remain financially stable over the next few years,” Earley said. Without changes, retiree pension and health expenses would consume 32 percent of the $55 million general fund.
