The mayor said 754 city employees will lose their jobs, remaining city workers will be asked to take a 10-percent pay cut, and voters will be asked to approve a 2-percent tax on fast food.
And, for the first time in more than 20 years, firefighters will be cut. Kilpatrick said he will lay off 61, as well as trim 38 paramedics and dismiss the current police academy class.
The mayor's austerity plan is the latest blow to a city that already has endured closures and layoffs in the public and parochial school systems, church closings, the seemingly nonstop erosion of its tax base from fleeing businesses and residents and bad publicity from local and national media.
But Kilpatrick said the plan -- which faces stiff opposition from unions and, possibly, the City Council, which must approve it -- is the only hope to eliminate a projected $300-million deficit. He has proposed a $1.4-billion budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Not mentioned is that one of those jobs being cut will cover the cost of the Mayor's leasing of a big, bad Navigator SUV for his use (or a girlfriend perhaps?) that is being paid by the city.
Okay, he is finally trying to face reality (sort of), but it appears that a lot of the "movers and shakers" in DeTroit are also in DeNial.
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