"[City] manager warns of bankruptcy over retiree costs"

"[Another American City] may plunge into bankruptcy unless retirees accept cuts in health benefits that threaten to unravel a balanced budget...

“If [this city] were to go to bankruptcy, that would highlight that this legacy-cost problem has to be addressed more globally,” ...“a lot of cities are on the same train, and that train is headed for the cliff.”

[This city] has struggled with loss of population, jobs and revenue...

“If we have no ability to mitigate the cost of retiree health care, that’s going to make it very difficult for the city to remain financially stable over the next few years,”...  Without changes, retiree pension and health expenses would consume 32 percent of the $55 million general fund.

[This city] demonstrates the plight of U.S. cities where unfunded post-retirement costs rival or exceed pension liabilities...

“Bankruptcy is a point in the law, and it’s my duty to explore that if it appears we’re not going to be able to make it any other way,” he said. “Whether it’s the absolute next step or not, I can’t say. It would have to be explored. It’s in the law for a reason.”

...In the past two years, the municipal workforce has been cut 20 percent and employees have taken a 20 percent pay cut.

[The city] may have to cut public safety and can’t issue bonds to cover the cost because it has no credit rating.

...Allowing higher insurance co-pays and deductibles for retirees will save $5 million this year. That would make retirees’ coverage equal to that of active employees, he said.

Retirees already have made wage and pension concessions, and now will pay hundreds of dollars a month for prescriptions and co-pays... retirees on fixed incomes will face life-threatening choices.

“Think of the position that they are putting these guys in: Pay for your health-care costs and starve, or use your fixed and paltry income to eke out a painful, shortened life,”...

,,,there’s talk of eliminating the police presence to cut costs, a bad idea for the hub of the economic revival...

...Without retiree health-care changes, the police force was to be trimmed by 36 officers to 115, and the fire department cut by 19 positions, to 75, ...despite a five-year tax increase for public safety...

...“The state balanced its budget by unbalancing city budgets.”

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140717/NEWS01/140719876/flint-manager-warns-of-bankruptcy-over-retiree-costs#