New Flint Mayor Faces Another Financial Emergency On Day One
Crain’s Detroit Business Senior Editor Chad Livengood took a look at the city’s finances. He says it could be headed for bankruptcy.
Flint gets a new mayor on Monday. Less than a week after narrowly defeating incumbent mayor Karen Weaver in the November election, Sheldon Neeley takes the helm of a city still reeling from years of state control and one of the biggest environmental catastrophes in the nation’s history.
The city is improving in some ways. Lead lines are being replaced, blight is being removed, and there’s significant investment happening in the city’s downtown.
But it’s not all good news. People who have looked closely at the city’s books believe the city may be on the verge of another financial emergency.
Crain’s Detroit Business Senior Editor Chad Livengood recently reviewed Flint’s finances.
In his piece “Flint’s ‘comeback story’ at odds with its bleak fiscal outlook,” he reports that “Flint’s pension fund is 36% funded, down from 49% in 2015.”
“This is the kind of financial maneuvers and budgeting that got Flint into emergency management twice,” says Livengood on Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson.
Click on the player above to hear Chad Livengood of Crain’s talk about Flint’s ominous financial outlook on Detroit Today.
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