One year after a federal judge approved a cost-cutting and reinvestment plan in the nation's largest-ever municipal bankruptcy case, Detroit's financial future still hangs in the balance, USAToday reported yesterday. Among the greatest concerns: a multibillion-dollar pension bill that starts coming due in less than a decade. The city is on the hook to make a balloon pension payment estimated at more than $100 million in 2024 alone. But if the pension investments do not perform as anticipated, the bill could be significantly higher. So far, the early returns for the investments since the bankruptcy are falling short. City officials and their watchdogs are already considering paying more into funds much sooner than prescribed by the city's bankruptcy exit plan confirmed only a year ago. It's unclear how Detroit would foot the bill. On Nov. 7, 2014, bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes gave a green light for Detroit's government to cut more than $7 billion in unsecured liabilities and pour $1.4 billion over 10 years into basic services to rehabilitate the city reeling from a decades-long population exodus, disinvestment and cash drain. At one time, the city's liabilities were estimated at more than $18 billion before creditors and pension holders took a financial haircut. "I think the early indicators exceeded our expectations," former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr said late last month.
