DETROIT—Detroit
Mayor Mike Duggan said the post-bankruptcy city will record its first balanced
budget since 2002 when the current fiscal year ends on June 30.

“We
still have to run a very tight budget every single week in order to stay on
track,” Duggan cautioned in his state of the city address on Tuesday.

He
added that while Detroit must report to a state-created financial review
commission, that oversight will end if the city pays its bills and balances its
budget for three straight years.

“And
that’s the goal of every one of us up here,” Duggan said, referring to
members of the city council on hand for the speech.

Detroit
exited the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in December, shedding
about $7 billion of its $18 billion of debt and obligations. The end of the
historic bankruptcy also marked the departure of state-appointed emergency
manager Kevyn Orr and the return of power to run the city to Detroit’s elected
officials.

Duggan
said the city continues to work on the Great Lakes Water Authority, a deal
between the city and three counties to regionalize water and sewer services.
The deal, which was a key component of the city’s debt adjustment plan, ran
into a snag when Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson raised concerns
about the lack of new audited financial statements for the Detroit Water and
Sewerage Department amid fears that declining revenue will lead to big rate
increases.

A
Feb. 6 order by Steven Rhodes, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge who oversaw
Detroit’s case, indicated that mediation was continuing over the water
authority.

An
exuberant Duggan said Detroit “is now on the road to recovery,”
pointing to successful efforts to save and rehabilitate houses, sell empty lots
to neighboring homeowners, collect unpaid property taxes, fix street lights and
improve bus service.

He
said a new program will create an $8 million zero percent loan pool to fund
home repairs for qualified homeowners. Another new initiative funded with money
from the federal government and foundations – Motor City Match – will offer
loan, grants and assistance to business entrepreneurs.

Duggan
reported that once lengthy response times by police and emergency medical
services have dropped, along with the number of carjackings and murders. He
also pledged that Detroit will be a leader in requiring police officers to wear
body cameras. –Reuters