Michigan

CHICAGO - Michael Stampfler, the emergency manager of Pontiac, Mich., resigned Friday after 14 months, calling the job a "sad and almost hopeless endeavor" and warning that bankruptcy or merger are the only real solutions for the troubled Detroit suburb.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced last week that a former superintendent of the Kansas City school system will be in charge of a new system that will operate the state’s lowest performing schools.

The Michigan Legislature last week approved a bill to require public employees to contribute to their health care benefits.

Michigan Monday launched a preliminary financial review of Flint, making the long-struggling city the first to undergo such a review since the state passed a new, broader emergency management law.

CHICAGO — The emergency manager of Pontiac, Mich., said his plan to raise new money for the cash-strapped Detroit suburb relies on a court-ordered property tax increase.

Moody's Investors Service this week affirmed its Aaa rating on Livingston County's $78.2 million of outstanding general obligation debt.

Gov. Rick Snyder last week asked the Michigan Supreme Court to rule on a lawsuit that targets the state's controversial emergency-management law.

CHICAGO - The emergency manager of struggling Pontiac, Mich., last week unveiled a package of tax increases and spending cuts that he said is the only option the city has to avoid going broke by next spring or sooner.

The Detroit Charter Revision Commission is working to meet an Aug. 30 deadline to place a revised charter on the fall ballot.

The AARP joined with two other senior-citizen groups to file a friend of the court brief to the Michigan Supreme Court last week, arguing that the state’s new law taxing retirement income is unconstitutional.

More than 80 people, including members of Michigan's Senate Economic Development Committee, embarked Monday on a fact-finding tour of proposed sites for a controversial plan to build a publicly funded bridge over the Detroit River.

CHICAGO - Detroit hopes to come to market in early September with up to $100 million of federal capital grant-backed bonds to finance part of a light-rail system along the city's main thoroughfare.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing announced last week that the city has reached a voluntary settlement with a union, resulting in a number of reforms.

Three unions that represent employees in the Detroit Public Schools system filed a federal lawsuit over a 10% pay cut and new requirement that employees pay 20% of their health care costs.

CHICAGO - The Michigan Municipal Advisory Council is looking for the seventh director in its 80-year history as current director Mike Alandt aims to retire by the end of the year.

Upscale food chain Whole Foods and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing announced last week that the company would open a new 20,000-square-foot store in the city in 2013.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service has assigned a junk-level issuer rating of B1 with a negative outlook to the long-struggling Detroit Public Schools.

Michigan’s 45-day tax amnesty program generated more than $76 million in revenue for the current 2011 fiscal year, according to the Department of Treasury.

Detroit finance director Tom Lijana announced his resignation and chief financial officer Norman White was demoted Monday as part of a sweeping reorganization of Mayor Dave Bing’s administration. Cheryl Johnson, formerly the treasurer, is the city’s new finance chief.

Oakland County will require the cash-strapped city of Pontiac to prepay the county on a monthly basis for police services that it is set to begin providing next month.