On June 4, I looked forward to returning home from Mackinac Island with good news. During the gubernatorial debate on the island, all candidates expressed that they would resist appointing a financial manager to the City of Detroit, largely due to their newfound faith in the leadership of Detroit -- mayor and City Council alike.

At last, a forward step.

However, I returned home only to discover drama regarding the city's budget. It is true that the City Council and the mayor have significant differences in perspective regarding how the city's deficit should be addressed. While we have every bit of confidence in the mayor's ability to help steer Detroit into a new era of vitality, we disagree over the extent to which he has addressed our fiscal crisis for this year.

We have serious and well-founded doubts about some of the mayor's projected revenues. We remain firm in our responsibility to the citizens of Detroit to put forth a balanced budget, and to avoid bankruptcy. Most of all, we want to avoid the appointment of an emergency financial manager.

These are extremely challenging times for our city. I came into office knowing full well that we would have to make very tough and, sometimes, painful decisions. The people who elected us know this as well. Local governments across the country have similar problems and are making similar decisions.

Chicago and Los Angeles have nearly half-billion-dollar budget shortfalls. In February, Chicago's mayor ordered all city agencies to cut spending by another 6% and pleaded with vendors to cut their prices by 10%. Los Angeles is privatizing city facilities and cutting services such as libraries, child care and sidewalk repair. Our neighbors in Oakland and Macomb Counties are closing recreation centers and laying off police officers and firefighters as well.

However, we believe our 2% cuts to the police and fire budgets can be absorbed by both departments without laying off any firefighters or police officers in Detroit.

It is difficult to tell citizens who are already dissatisfied with their local government that they may have to give more and get less in return, but, sadly, that is the reality of what we are dealing with as a community right now. We will shrink before we grow and hurt before we heal.

How soon we recover from this crisis is entirely dependent on our ability to adapt to change, find new and creative solutions and, most important, work together. We can spend less without having less, and there are already excellent examples in Detroit of community groups, foundations and churches working together to maintain recreation centers and parks. There are opportunities for city departments to spend less by operating more efficiently, avoiding layoffs.

Conflict and compromise are essential parts of how our government was designed. So, the back-and-forth nature of this budget process is not a sign of disrespect or unwillingness to cooperate; it's how things should work. Just as the president has to work with Congress and the governor has to work with the Legislature, the mayor has to work with the City Council. When we don't agree, we should not give up. We should work harder to come up with a compromise solution that works best for Detroiters.

The City Council is concerned about the service delivery impact associated with additional cuts and is willing to negotiate sensible restorations to the budget. Moving forward, however, the mayor and the City Council must set the example for the type of collaboration and cooperation the recovery of our city, region and state demands. Which means we need to be working together to realistically come up with a deficit-elimination plan that works best for the people of Detroit.

Editorial Article appeared in the Free Press on April 13. 

Today, I was able to sit down with Charlie Beckham and Dr. Janet Anderson, the heads of the office of Operations Restructuring, to receive an update on the work they have been doing in Cadillac Tower. Operations Restructuring is an initiative Mayor Bing implemented to begin the conversation on how we provide services to our citizens more efficiently and effectively. As you all know, our city government is too big; and, with our dwindling population, we must begin the discussion on how we downsize and reshape our governmental structure.

I was very encouraged with Dr. Janet Anderson’s leadership. Her years of experience and level of expertise gives me confidence that the right person is in charge. After brief introductions, she began to brief my team and I on the restructuring committees goals and how they plan to achieve those goals. Citizens will be glad to know that they are using a “service delivery model”, which is a scholarly way of saying they are looking at how they can provide citizens with better services.

Currently, the committee is involved in interagency discussion, asking three questions: (1) how much money is in our budget, (2) how much money are we spending, and (3) are we meeting citizens’ expectations? This process is multi-leveled and pretty extensive. However, this is what is expected when you are talking about re-engineering the entire system of how we service the people of Detroit.

Before leaving the meeting I was able to give a few recommendations pertaining to the purchasing process, recreational centers, and the establishment of an executive/legislative working group. As the meeting wrapped up, it was clear that there will be difficult decisions and hard fights ahead, but I want citizens to know that I am ready and willing to make these tough decisions in order for Detroit to succeed!