DETROIT, MI -- Representatives of the city argued Tuesday

in a Lansing hearing

that the state is prematurely abandoning a financial stability agreement reached last year as the governor moves toward appointing an emergency manager.

"A deal is a deal," said David Whitaker, director of Detroit City Council's research and analysis division in appealing the governor's determination that the city is in financial emergency with no "satisfactory" reform plan.

"We have a deal on the table. It is not over. And we say keep the deal in place... You already have a consent agreement that's in place... To say the City Council or the city is not cooperating, I'm afraid that I have to disagree... The plan that's in place gets us to where we want to be without creating the displacement of elected officials."

Gov. Rick Snyder earlier this month made it clear that he intends to appoint an emergency manager.

City Council members acknowledged that it's unlikely the governor will change his mind, but said they wanted to officially voice their opposition to a state takeover.

Mayor Dave Bing was not part of the appeal. He chose to avoid fighting the state, saying he instead wants to work closely with an emergency manager.

Treasury official Frederick Headen, who spoke on behalf of the state in the appeal hearing, said the city last year showed a lack of urgency and that many of the reforms implemented in the last few month would not have happened "if the review team had not been hanging over the head of city officials."

A financial review team compiled a report detailing the city's financial struggles that the governor used to make his determination, setting the stage for an emergency manager.

City officials have argued that much of the debt cited in the review team's report belongs to separate entities that have their own revenue streams like the water and sewerage department and 36th District Court.

"Yes, there's a lot of debt out there, but much of it is supported by continual revenue streams," said City Council's fiscal analyst Irvin Corley, Jr. in the hearing.

Headen argued that the $14 billion long-term liability estimation is valid, even though much of it is independent from the city's general fund.

"They may be in different funds... some may have revenue streams behind them... but they are in fact long-term liabilities owed by the city of Detroit," Headen said. "The city does have a staggering amount of long-term debt."

He said that actions the mayor and council have taken against deficits in recent months were too heavily focused around short-term savings and non-union employees.

He also said city officials have exhibited a "lack of enthusiasm to implement the terms of the stability agreement," and that the City Charter includes conditions and structural detail that make it "all but impossible to restructure city services."

Corley listed reasons the financial stability agreement took longer than expected to start gaining ground, including lawsuits and legal challenges to the emergency manager law and the consent agreement, "challenges regarding employee morale," and obsolete and ineffective technological systems.

He said it could reasonably take two years to complete the plan, but after 10 months, "the state is taking city down a different path."

Whitaker argued that an emergency manager would "bring more delay, not less delay."

Michigan's Chief Deputy Treasurer Mary G. MacDowell said she will consider the information gathered in the appeal and provide a determination to the governor.

Watch the full hearing in the video below.

Follow Khalil AlHajal on Twitter @DetroitKhalil or on Facebook at Detroit Khalil. He can be reached at kalhajal@mlive.com or 313-643-0527.

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