GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Mayor George Heartwell and his predecessor, John Logie, both favor Rosalynn Bliss to be the city's next mayor. The city's comptroller and her predecessors, however, support Robert Dean.

Here's a Rosalynn Bliss campaign flier touting endorsements from Mayor George Heartwell and John Logie, a former mayor.

Sara Vander Werff, Donijo DeJonge and Stan Milanowski - who have been the elected watchdogs of city finances for the past three decades - all are endorsing Dean for the Tuesday, Aug. 4, mayoral election.

"To me, if you want to be on stable financial footing you have to get your unfunded liabilities and debt under control," said DeJonge, who in 2011 became the first woman elected Grand Rapids city comptroller. "He'll bring up the financial position of the city, and we're approaching $1 billion of debt and unfunded liabilities. That's significant.

"(City commissioners) have to hold the manager to account. Why, instead of talking about (rules for backyard) chickens for 45 minutes, why are we not talking about the pensions, not just for 45 minutes but for days?"

RELATED: Watch highlights from first gathering of Grand Rapids mayoral candidates

Dean talked about the city's debt and a looming "fiscal cliff" at a Thursday, July 9, forum of mayoral candidates. He said he doesn't want his "grandchildren to be saddled with the debt that we are coming to," and called for the city to "get back to our core function."

But Dean also is partly responsible for the city's current fiscal condition, having served as a Third Ward city commissioner from 2000 to 2006.

Here's a Robert Dean campaign flier that depicts the city's "fiscal cliff."

Bliss at Thursday's forum said she's proud of the City Commission's leadership the past 10 years when Grand Rapids leaders have made "a lot of hard decisions" to get the city into good social and fiscal shape. Grand Rapids is building up cash reserves and putting money into its pension systems again, although perhaps not as aggressively as it could - and not without voter-approved taxes in 2010, 2013 and 2014.

Heartwell and Logie, who have filled the mayor's chair since 1991, each tout Bliss' work ethic in their endorsements of her for mayor. Heartwell said in a statement that Bliss "has a rare ability to convene a wide range of individuals and get them to work toward common goals."

"She is a strong leader who is smart, strategic, thoughtful and visionary," Heartwell said in the statement. "Based on my experience, we'll not find a harder worker to serve our city as our next mayor."

Matt Vande Bunte covers government for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at mvandebu@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.