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Former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr said yesterday that he expects to return to his former law firm, Jones Day, within the next few weeks, the Detroit Free Press reported today. Orr, who resigned as emergency manager on the day Detroit exited bankruptcy in December, said that he considered a variety of opportunities. "I've met with a number of great folks, and I've been fortunate enough to be able to entertain a number of offers, but I think I'm gonna go back into law at least for some period of time," he said. Asked what he would be doing at Jones Day, he said: "Restructuring, strategic counsel, crisis management. It's what I've done for the past 30-plus years."

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder yesterday signed into law a bill aimed at reducing interest rate costs for an upcoming Detroit bond sale, Reuters reported yesterday. Detroit privately placed $275 million of variable-rate bonds with Barclays Capital to finance its Dec. 10 exit from the biggest-ever municipal bankruptcy. As part of the city's bankruptcy court-approved plan, that debt is due to be sold in the U.S. municipal market in a fixed-rate mode by May 9. The deal will mark the city's first post-bankruptcy public bond sale.

A Michigan state House committee is recommending Detroit get a $4.1 million cut in state revenue sharing three months after the city emerged from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, the Detroit News reported today. The Michigan House Appropriations General Government Subcommittee approved a $4.6 billion spending plan yesterday that changes a formula for municipal revenue sharing and only reduces state funding for Detroit. The panel’s change redirects $5.8 million that Gov. Rick Snyder budgeted for Detroit and spreads it out across 101 cities, villages and townships across the state. The redistribution of revenue sharing reduces Detroit’s current state funding by $4.1 million from $195.7 million this fiscal year to $191.6 million, according to the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency. State Rep. Laura Cox, chairwoman of the subcommittee, said Detroit can “take a little bit of a haircut” after shedding $5.5 billion in pension and retiree health care liabilities in bankruptcy court.

A judge inheriting what’s left of Detroit’s bankruptcy case was confronted with a new dispute on Wednesday as attorneys argued about whether some city retirees should qualify for financial aid from the state, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Tucker held a hearing to get a status report from parties in the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history. Detroit emerged from Chapter 9 in December, and Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, who steered the case, retired. Detroit erased or restructured $7 billion in debt and pledged to spend $1.7 billion over a decade to improve city services. The sacrifices include a 4.5 percent pension cut for roughly 12,000 non-public safety retirees, which kicked in this month, and the elimination of their annual cost-of-living payment. Retirees whose income falls below a certain level can apply for aid from a special $20 million fund administered by the state. But the state is opposing efforts to extend that aid to retirees whose returns from an annuity program harmed the city’s pension fund. Those retirees now are being forced to repay the generous returns as part of the bankruptcy case. Detroit’s general pension fund paid at least 7.9 percent a year on annuities no matter how Wall Street performed. The amount over a 10-year period was pegged at $387 million.

Former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr today defended his decision not to push the city into 401(k)-style pension plans during the city's chapter 9 bankruptcy, the Detroit Free Press reported today. Orr said that he's comfortable with his decision not to eliminate the city's defined-benefit plan, which guarantees a certain level of post-retirement benefits to pensioners. Instead, the city negotiated a new formula that requires some union members to contribute to their pensions.

In related news, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan presented a fiscal 2016 budget on Tuesday to the city council, warning that any changes in the spending plan would need approval from the post-bankruptcy city's oversight board, Reuters reported yesterday. Detroit exited its 17-month bankruptcy in December. A financial review commission, created under Michigan law, maintains control over Detroit's spending until the city pays its bills and balances its budget for three straight years. "Everything that we do is focused on how fast we can return self-determination to the city of Detroit," Duggan told the council, saying the earliest that could happen is 2018. 

Retired Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes is bullish on Detroit's future — praising its "very enthusiastic and confident and competent mayor" and "supportive City Council" — three months after approving the city's plan to exit chapter 9 bankruptcy, the Detroit Free Press reported on Saturday. But there are also a few aspects of the case and city that trigger regret, worry and caution for Judge Rhodes. Detroit missed a chance to do away with defined-benefit pensions, he said, exposing the city to long-term risk from cash shortfalls or poor investment returns. And despite being subject to long-term fiscal oversight by a Financial Review Commission, Judge Rhodes acknowledged, Detroit's comeback could be delayed or derailed by a relapse of city-suburb discord on issues like the region's water and sewer system, or a return to mismanagement or corruption at City Hall in Detroit. "I'm very optimistic about the future of the City of Detroit. Its balance sheet is fixed," Rhodes said. "It has very feasible and reasonable budgets. ... So the formula and the ingredients are there."

Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Tucker will take over Detroit’s landmark bankruptcy case today following the retirement of Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes, the Detroit News reported today. Judge Tucker, a federal bankruptcy judge since 2003, was named the successor Wednesday by R. Guy Cole Jr., Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. Judge Tucker will resolve lingering disputes over claims in the biggest municipal bankruptcy case in U.S. history and enforce the city’s plan to shed $7 billion in debt, restructure another $3 billion and plow $1.7 billion into improved services. The city emerged from bankruptcy in early December.