Detroit Is Worse Off Than The Public Knows

Just to provide a bit of background information to the troubles of Detroit's financial situation, here are the actual reports that never had the opportunity to see the light of day in the media because it shows the true story of Detroit's financial crisis.

It is worse then the public knows.

Detroit Pension Problems 7-13-2010

Then there is the Detroit Department of Human Services.  Here is a history of the matter:

Director of Detroit Department of Human Services fired over questionable purchases.  

Detroit facing loss of Head Start federal grant over questionable activities.    

Former Director of Detroit Department of Human Services files whistleblower lawsuit over using Head Start money for pension obligations and other actions.

U.S. DHHS OIG City of Detroit Department of Human Services Audit 2009

The award date for the 2012 grant is September 29, 2012 but it seems the City is prepared to be found not eligible because there are rumors it will be transferred to Wayne County which is not much better with management when it comes to matters of child welfare.

Time has the strange effect of making people forget.  Fortunately, now there is the internet which preserves  events for instant recall at the touch of your mobile device.  When the McNamara airport was built, there was a scandal.  The Auditor General came in and found a myriad of fraud.  The feds came in, also but not much came of it.  Well, there was another part of that audit that never saw the light of day in the media.  It was the child welfare services audit.

There were 5 different segments that were to be audited but after the first one, mysteriously the Auditor General's contract was never renewed because he had gone to the FBI and the rest of the child welfare service programs went untouched.

This is the counterpart to the Airport Audit in 2003.
Wayne County Operational Audit Report 2004

Then, let us not forget the multitude of lawsuits in dealing with whistleblower actions reporting federal fraud such as this one.  There are other suits under seal.

There is questionable activity with HUD and CDC funds which have turned off the spigot of federal dollars.

Continuing along the list of woes for Detroit without addressing the loss of population for being the highest taxed area in the country with another round of property tax foreclosures because the County had its own internal issues surrounding its land banks, there are other reasons for loss of revenue. The City, for years did not turn in federally mandated reports and subsequently, lost tens of millions in revenue.  For instance, the Detroit Police Department lost 3 years of DOJ funding because the reports were never submitted from the executive office.  This is why the precincts went to districts.  Of course we must mention the consent agreement and the issues surrounding compliance.

I do not believe the city needs an emergency manager.  The city needs an inspector general to partner with intervention of federal public corruption task force.  The financial issues are systemic.  Until they are addressed, Detroit is looking down a long road for recovery