Proposal floated to merge City of Pontiac with county

PONTIAC (AP) -- A proposal by a state-appointed emergency financial manager to merge or combine Pontiac city services with Oakland County operations has found an opponent -- the county executive. Emergency financial manager Michael Stampfler presented the idea in a letter to county executive L. Brooks Patterson. After meeting last Friday, Patterson said he would oppose the proposal, which could see the county taking on Pontiac's enormous debt. "Frankly, there is no desire on my part to take on the financial obligation of the city of Pontiac," Patterson told The Detroit News for a recent story. "We've stepped up where we can and where it makes good business sense, but we're facing some of the same issues. We've had to make cuts, too." Stampfler, who was appointed by former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm to fix Pontiac's financial ills, has said the city of 58,000 people could face bankruptcy. "I realize this is perhaps a radical concept, but I hope the positive consequences associated with such an initiative may be carefully weighed against the negatives of continuing the present situation," Stampfler wrote in the letter obtained by The News and the Detroit Free Press. The city's budget deficit is expected to reach $12.5 million by June 2012. "If the city were to lay off every current employee paid from the general fund, the savings would amount to approximately $11 million, still over $1.5 million short of the accumulated deficit," Stampfler wrote. Pontiac received state approval last week to cancel union contract protections for 10 police dispatchers, allowing it to complete the process of eliminating its police department to help cut into the deficit. Stampfler proposed eliminating Pontiac's police force last year. Beginning July 1, those services will be contracted out to the Oakland County Sheriff's Department at a savings of about $2 million each year. A merger between the city and county would require approval from Oakland County voters, according to Bill Rustem, director of strategy for Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. But Patterson said the issue is a "nonstarter." "Would I like to help if Oakland County were paved with gold? Sure. But it's not," Patterson told the Free Press. Published: Tue, Jun 14, 2011