CHICAGO — A top advisor to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said last week that he considered trying to push for legislation that would provide some protection for Detroit's low-income residents who faced cuts in their pensions.
Richard Baird is one of Snyder's close advisors but not technically a state employee. He was responsible for hiring Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr, and testified in a deposition last week as part of Detroit's bankruptcy case. Baird said that he was interested in whether a state law could protect Detroit citizens in line to receive the lowest pensions from large cuts as the city struggled to avoid bankruptcy.
He said he asked Orr for data on the roughly 20,000 retirees to see where most of the retirees would land on the pension scale.
"He said it was a good question, and he'd get back to me," said Baird. "But to the best of my recollection, he didn't."
Baird added that his anecdotal information was that most of the retirees were at the lower end of the scale so the effort would not work. He also said he heard that state lawmakers would not likely pursue a bill.
"My understanding is that the appetite for a large-scale appropriation to Detroit was pretty low," Baird testified. "I didn't have an opinion about whether or not there was an appetite for an incremental safety net for impacted pensioners were they to be impacted. I was simply asking the question."
