Gov. Snyder’s Emergency Manager Experiment — Five Years of Fear

DEMOCRACY TREE
Michigan’s Trusted Source for Watchdog Commentary and Analysis on Public Policy, Media, Politics and the Democratic Process

Since 2011, Michigan cities have been punishing themselves

over Snyder’s bad public policy

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Amy Kerr Hardin

Since 2011, Michigan municipalities and school districts have been operating under the cudgel of Gov. Snyder’s Emergency Manager Law, making reckless budgetary cuts and forming ill-thought public policy decisions based on the mere threat of emergency management. Here at Democracy Tree, we’ve forecast numerous disastrous outcomes from self-inflicted wounds among Michigan communities — the collateral damage from acting out of terror of state control.

It’s All About the Fear

Snyder’s enhanced Emergency Manager Law has been a train wreck — from the ongoing mismanagement of Detroit Public Schools, and its corrupt spinoff, the Education Achievement Authority, to the City of Flint suffering the ill-effects of irreversible lead poisoning at the hands of an unelected dictator — all with the governor’s blessing.

Although, currently only one municipality and three school districts are operating underemergency management, with a number of others in receivership or in a consent agreement, the law’s path of destruction remains devastating.

A Case Study: The Local Emergency Manager “Lite”

While the criminally negligent health crisis unfolds in Flint, other communities are suffering another kind of quiet desperation. Grand Traverse County finds itself in a $58 million hole, with a looming unfunded pension and healthcare crisis — read the rest of the blog post at the link below…

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