Eric Foster figures, why not?
The 40-year-old native Detroiter has a Troy based firm, Foster McCollom White & Associates, that has a 17-point plan that would produce a $143 million budget surplus and cut the long-term debt, according to Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley.
The words "budget surplus" and "Detroit" in the same sentence?
Yes, you heard right.
Riley writes:
Among other things, the plan would eliminate five more city departments than the six Mayor Dave Bing wants to cut; increase the police budget by $140 million to hire 1,500 additional patrol officers and increase the fire budget by $30 million to hire 500 more firefighters; and create policing zones where Detroit suburbs would share responsibility with the city for patrols and 911 calls. That effort could be funded by an authority similar to one used in Washington state, Foster said.
The plan also would create authorities to oversee the Detroit Water and Sewerage and Transportation departments and all public libraries in Detroit and Wayne County; transfer oversight of Detroit's medium-size parks to Wayne County and allow the county to manage those parks with the proceeds from millages. Old City Airport would move under the Wayne County Airport Authority and tax collections for Detroit and the 42 other communities in Wayne County would be outsourced to the county treasurer.
