The state-appointed financial manager for Hamtramck resigned last week after working for six years to help fix the small city’s finances.
Louis Schimmel, a longtime municipal finance participant in Michigan, said he accomplished what he set out to do in the financially troubled city.
Schimmel was appointed by Lansing in 2000 to return the city to fiscal soundness. Hamtramck faced a $2.5 million deficit and had $7.5 million of bond debt with a total city budget of about $16 million. It failed to meet some of the requirements of its agreement with Michigan in 1999 and triggered the process for state officials to begin a financial review and appoint a financial manager. Michigan’s response to the crisis, and those in two other cities, became a test of legislation that sought to bring a state solution to local fiscal problems.
The state also appointed financial managers in Highland Park and Flint. Flint’s financial manager ended his term, but Highland Park’s resigned amid disagreements with Lansing about how to fix the struggling city’s finances. The state appointed someone else to fill her position.
Michigan officials still must decide whether to release Hamtramck from its designation as a city in financial emergency. The Local Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board will make that determination.
Schimmel, who had planned to leave the city in 2004, said he accomplished the task of helping the city stabilize its financial status, according to local reports.
