Mayor Dave Bing and the City Council debated Monday morning about the city's corporation counsel's decision to legally challenge the consent agreement but took no action.
Bing warned the state will let the city run out of cash this week.
Bing wants council members to pressure the city's top lawyer, Krystal Crittendon, to drop the lawsuit that alleges the state owes the city money.
Some council members said Crittendon was doing her job when she sued to collect more than $220 million in what the city claims is owed state revenue sharing and millions of other unpaid bills and that the city cannot enter into an agreement with the state when that entity is in default.
"Nobody's talking about the fact that the state owes us money," said council member Saunteel Jenkins, who added that the state could solve this by giving the city at least some of the money owed for the water bill, for example.
Bing also said he has never considered "firing" Crittendon over the decision to sue, and other council members joined that opinion.
