March 11 (Bloomberg) — Sandwiched between bankrupt Detroit and two foundering cities that fell under state control, Lincoln Park is trying to avoid the same fate.
The bungalow suburb of 37,000 residents asked Michigan for a review of its finances, which are so shaky that it diverted $2.5 million to pensions from a water and sewer account. The audit, due by April 11, could prompt Governor Rick Snyder to appoint an emergency manager — a fate the town wants to avoid.
Officials in Lincoln Park and other cities are cutting police and firefighters, skimping on services and warily engaging the state as conditions that sent Detroit into insolvency ripple outward. Lincoln Park's property values fell 46.6 percent since 2007, compared with a 35.2 percent drop across all of Wayne County, which includes Detroit, according to the Southeast Council of State Governments.
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