Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said that the post-bankruptcy city will record its first balanced budget since 2002 when the current fiscal year ends on June 30, Reuters reported yesterday. "We still have to run a very tight budget every single week in order to stay on track," Duggan cautioned in his state of the city address on Tuesday. He added that while Detroit must report to a state-created financial review commission, that oversight will end if the city pays its bills and balances its budget for three straight years. Detroit exited the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in December, shedding about $7 billion of its $18 billion of debt and obligations. The end of the historic bankruptcy also marked the departure of state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr and the return of power to run the city to Detroit's elected officials. Duggan said the city continues to work on the Great Lakes Water Authority, a deal between the city and three counties to regionalize water and sewer services. The deal, which was a key component of the city's debt adjustment plan, ran into a snag when Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson raised concerns about the lack of new audited financial statements for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department amid fears that declining revenue will lead to big rate increases. A Feb. 6 order by Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes indicated that mediation was continuing over the water authority.
