A Michigan board yesterday agreed to send nearly $195 million in state funds to Detroit's two retirement systems on Feb. 9 as part of a pivotal deal that helped to end the city's historic bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. Jeremy Sampson, a spokesman for Michigan's Treasury Department, said that the three-member Michigan Settlement Administration Authority took the action after the city's bankruptcy reached certain triggers, including the dismissal of legal claims against the state that were related to the bankruptcy. The state funds are part of the so-called grand bargain, which includes $366 million from philanthropic foundations and $100 million from the Detroit Institute of Arts pledged over 20 years to ease cuts to pensions for Detroit retirees and save artwork from being sold to pay city creditors. The first payments by the foundations and the museum to the retirement systems totaling $23.3 million were made on Dec. 10, the effective date that marked Detroit's exit from the biggest-ever U.S. municipal bankruptcy.
