Gov. Snyder wants to give MORE power to the emergency managers..."rescuing troubled schools and local governments with private companies getting help through bankruptcy." He wants these managers to be "rare" and only implemented when in desperate measures, but to make them swift and effective. What do you all think?
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/03/gov_snyder_wants_emergency_fin.html
He wants to give them more power and implement it by later this week?? Shouldn't we sit down and talk about this a little more, there seems to be a lot of opposition to it. That's the beauty of democracy, let our voices be heard and deliberate about this before anyone might do something irrational. He also says that he wants them to be rare, but can we hold him accountable to that? I want more of his ideas in writing and signed before I'm willing to relinquish some of my constitutional rights.
ReplyDeleteHe also has "ideas" about how schools can overcome these cuts, as if he's some sort of hero that will save the day? Let's not forget that these were his cuts in the first place! He better have a plan for this!
"We will be talking about best practices, accountability, transparency, employee benefits, and then service consolidation and service sharing," Snyder said of his government reform message. Sounds to me that its pretty transparent of his lack of accountability, and the $160,000 benefits of the EMFs. BTW, Benton Harbor residents are 90% African American that average a $10,000 a year salary. The new golf course/resort being built on Benton Harbor's shore? Costs a family $5,000 a year for membership to play on: half of the average salary of a Benton Harbor resident. Let's start with their benefits first.
ReplyDeleteEmergency managers are a last resort. These towns did not just wake up one day to find that they were massively in debt. The problem has been years in the making, and for whatever reason current government did nothing to correct the problem. I stand beside the emergency manager idea because they are willing to take the necessary actions that current government wasn’t.
ReplyDeleteWell I definitely do not think the golf course is a good idea, but I think the idea of bringing something to Benton Harbor is. The town desperately needs jobs to up resident’s income. This would bring additional taxable income to the town and reduce the number of cuts the town needs to make. The question is what business is will to locate their and does Benton Harbor have the skilled labor force to field these jobs.
Agreeing with Chris, EMF are a last resort before bankruptcy. If a local government defaulted on its debt, it would put out many investors financially as well as lose consumer confidence for future transactions.
ReplyDelete“My goal is to have an early warning system so you never really need a (emergency financial manager),” Snyder said. “If you have an EFM, you've reached a failure point. You need a plan to put into place to do difficult things but to do them before you reach that status.”
ReplyDeleteFrom reading the article it seems to me that Governor Snyder does not want to actually use emergency managers, but they are there as a last resort. If they are needed in a last resort situation, he wants to give them more power and control. It seems to me that Governor Snyder does not know what to do with “last resort” places like Ecorse and Benton Harbor and is hoping that an emergency manager will deal with the problem. This might work, but Snyder needs to acknowledge that if cities in Michigan are in a disaster, it is still a STATE problem. I hope that if an emergency manager is needed, Snyder will still do his best to assist the town’s local government.
I agree with Chris as well. I also think that a lot depends on who is being chosen for the EFMs. That will ultimately decide whether this plan succeeds or fails.
ReplyDeleteI have the same question as Chris does. If emergency managers manage to attract businesses to Benton Harbor, does Benton Harbor have the resources and skilled labor to supply to these businesses.
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