NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 14, 2005 - 3
* ON CAMPUS
Vigil on Diag will
commemorate
tsunami victims
A vigil to remember tsunami victims
will be held in the Diag tomorrow at
6:30 p.m.
Vigil participants will light candles,
hold a moment of silence, and share
words of comfort in memory of those
who have died in the tsunami.
Beal Avenue to
close to traffic
for weekend
Beal Avenue will be closed for repair
* between Bonisteel Boulevard and the
NC16 parking lot north of the Advanced
Technology Laboratories building this
weekend.
The closure is scheduled to take place
from 6 a.m. tomorrow to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Access to the Bentley Historical Library
and NC16 parking lots will only be avail-
able from the south through Fuller Road.
During the next two weeks, smaller
' excavations may occur along Beal Ave-
nue between Fuller Road and Hayward
Avenue.
DJ to perform at
Power Center
D.J. Spooky, one of the most popu-
lar DJs in the New York circuit, will
perform tonight at 8 p.m. in the Power
Center. Spooky has a reputation as
being on the cutting edge of hip hop.
CRIME
NOTES
Fight in Jackson
ends in trip to 'U'
hospital for woman
A female assaulted by another female
in Jackson was taken to the University
Hospital Wednesday night. The assault
victim had allegedly been punched. Both
were minors.
Money missing on
misplaced Mcard
A student lost his Mcard before
Thanksgiving Break and reported to
the Department of Public Safety that
$40 was missing from his student
account.
Employee steals
two frappuccinos
An employee at the Thomas Fran-
cis Jr. Building at 1420 Washington
Heights stole two "frappuccino" cof-
fee drinks Tuesday morning, a caller
reported to DPS.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
Length of school
year shortened
because of WWII
Jan. 14, 1942 - The University
landed on the bandwagon of war-
speeded education with a resound-
ing thump as a precedent-breaking
Deans' Conference approved the first
of a series of drastic changes in Uni-
versity wartime policy, calling for:
Shortening of final examina-
tion periods
Omission of spring vacation
Movement of Commencement
to May 30
Unverified and often wild rumors
which had swept the campus for days
were thus brought to an end as Frank
Robbins, assistant to the president,
stressed that all of the recommen-
dations of the New University Ward
Board, which received the approval
of the Deans, must still obtain for-
mal acknowledgement by the Board
of Regents.
CORRECTIONS
I.
Detroit mayor
cuts city services,
lays off hundreds
DETROIT (AP) - Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick on Wednesday announced
plans to cut more than 900 city jobs and
eliminate 24-hour bus service as part
of an effort to head off a looming $230
million deficit.
Under the mayor's plan, 686 employ-
ees will be laid off effective March 4,
and 237 vacant positions will not be
filled. The cuts will not affect fire-
fighters, police officers or EMS per-
sonnel, he said.
Kilpatrick did not «
specify where the Since th
cuts would come h
from, except to say the city
140 bus employ-
ees, mostly drivers, *"* *
would be laid off and we wjustw
66 vacant positions ju
in the transportation more yea
department would
not be filled. Will impr
In his televisedt
address, Kilpat- 40 years
rick also said he haveprov
was "leading by p
example" by cutting financialI
his own salary and
those of his appoin-
tees by 10 percent. -F
He said he would
also ask City Coun-
cil to approve a 10-
percent cut for nonunion employees and
to trim its own budget.
"Since the 1960s, the city has at times
ignored the writing on the wall and
believed that if we just wait one more
year, things will improve, federal dol-
lars will come, the balance sheet will
get better," said Kilpatrick, who is fac-
ing an election this year. "But 40 years
of red ink have proven that's a financial
fairy tale."
Kilpatrick said his administration
would ask vendors that it does business
with for contract concessions of 5 per-
cent to 10 percent.
As of July 1, city-owned vehicles
assigned to mayoral appointees and
many other employees will be elimi-
nated. Kilpatrick spokesman Howard
Hughey said the number of such vehi-
cles is in the hundreds.
Kilpatrick said he also is asking
unions to accept a wage cut of 10 per-
cent in the form of "days off without
pay." Under the program, workers would
be paid for only 36 hours, but overtime
would only kick in after 40 hours.
Kilpatrick said the plan would
save jobs.
But John Riehl, president of AFSC-
ME Local 207, which represents 1,100
city workers, primarily in the water
department, said
e 1960s,
zas at times
ed that if
ait one
r, things
ove ... But
of red ink
ven that's a
fairy tale."
Kwame Kilpatrick
Detroit mayor
his members would
vote no on any con-
tract that included
such a plan.
"The mayor's
plan is a slap at the
face of Detroit,"
Riehl said.
Those who rely
on city bus ser-
vice also will be
affected under the
mayor's plan.
Kilpatrick said
buses would no
longer run 24
hours, but he did
not specify black-
out times, saying
public hearings
would be held
before changes
are announced.
Patty Fedewa, a
board member of Transportation Rid-
ers United, said the cuts in bus service
would keep people from getting to jobs
and thus further bring down the city's
economic health.
"People need to travel 24 hours a day
in a modern society," she said.
Fedewa said the transportation
department could be made more effi-
cient without an abbreviated schedule
and should take advantage of more fed-
eral mass transit funds.
Kilpatrick's office is forecasting a
$230 million shortfall for the fiscal year
beginning July 1. But City Council's
fiscal analyst, Irvin Corley Jr., said the
hole is even deeper.
Corley is forecasting a $274 million
deficit through the 2005-06 fiscal year,
including a $57 million shortfall for the
current year and an estimated $90 mil-
lion deficit for last year. If City Council
fails to approve a pension bond proposal
before it, the deficit next year will jump
to $354 million, he said.
Corley said the city would need to
lay off 2,300 employees to balance the
budget.
Kilpatrick blames Detroit's financial
woes in large part on a city government
that became bloated under previous
administrations. From 1992 to 2001,
the number of people on the payroll
increased by 3,000 to about 21,000,
even as Detroit's population continued
its decades-long decline. Meanwhile,
fewer residents have meant less tax rev-
enue, even as health care and pension
costs have risen.
City Council member and may-
oral candidate Sharon McPhail said
Kilpatrick is responsible for the cur-
rent crisis because he failed to take
timely action.
Many of Kilpatrick's proposed cuts
require approval from City Council,
and officials from Kilpatrick's admin-
istration were to meet with the council
State economists: Tax revenues to fall short again
Budget defici
million thisy
y
LANSING (AP) - Government
economists formally announced
yesterday what they have already
said: Tax revenues will not be
high enough this fiscal year or
next fiscal year to keep the state
out of the red without some budget
adjustments.
Although the $12.5 billion
budget that covers public K-12
education will be in the black,
state Treasurer Jay Rising said
he expects the $8.8 billion gen-
eral fund budget to be about $350
million short in the current fiscal
year and about $750 million short
in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1
without changes.
Gov. Jennifer Granhom's budget
director, Mary Lannoye, is expect-
ed to present Granholm's spending
plan for the next fiscal year to law-
makers on Feb. 10, and is taking the
latest revenue figures into account,
Rising said.
Gary Olson, director of the non-
it could b(
'er cuts*
up to $406
will be needed
partisan Senate Fiscal Agency, esti-
mated the hole in the current budget
could be as large as $406 million,
in part because more money will
be needed to pay for Medicaid than
originally planned.
More than 1.4 million people
receive health benefits from the state,
the highest level ever, Olson said.
Rising, Olson and House Fis-
cal Agency director Mitchell Bean
agreed at yesterday's revenue-esti-
mating conference that the gen-
eral fund will take in about $7.87
billion in the current fiscal year.
That's less than the $8.04 billion
the state received last fiscal year
and remains below what the state
took in during fiscal 1977.
General fund revenues are
expected to grow to $8.16 billion in
the fiscal year that starts in Octo-
ber, about $286.5 million more
than this year.
The school aid fund, which pays
for public education, is expected to
take in $10.88 billion this year, up
from $10.62 billion in the last fis-
cal year. It's expected to grow by
$422.1 million in the next fiscal
year, to $11.3 billion.
Rising school aid fund revenue
could mean increases of $100 to
$200 per pupil for the 2005-06
school year, Olson said.
But he warned that lawmakers
and administration officials tack-
ling the deficit in the current gener-
al fund budget will have a difficult
time, since there are only a few
areas in which to focus cuts: cor-
rections, Medicaid and payments to
local governments.
Olson said he hopes to see
job increases finally on a steady
upward trend when the next rev-
enue estimating conference is held
in May. Although the state began
to see periods of job growth in
2004, it likely ended the year with
fewer jobs than it started, econo-
mists said. December's job num-
bers are expected to be released
next week.
University of Michigan econo-
mist Joan Crary said she expects
the state economy to finally turn
around in 2005, marking the first
year since 2000 that the state has
gained jobs. She estimated the state
will add 32,000 jobs in 2005 and
73,000 in 2006, giving the state a
2005 annual unemployment rate of
6.7 percent and dropping the rate
to 6.2 percent in 2006.
She expects the state will continue
to lose manufacturing jobs, but only
3,000 or 4,000 a year, compared to
more than 20,00 jobs lost in 2004
and 33,000 lost in 2003.
The losses will continue largely
because the state's domestic auto-
makers are expected to continue to
lose market share to rival imports
and because productivity will con-
tinue to rise, requiring fewer work-
ers, she said.
But she also had some positive
news.
"There's some indication that the
rest of manufacturing is going to
solidify outside the auto industry,"
she said.
State economy:
by the numbers
Total budget for state general fund
$350 rillion
Projected budget deficit for current
fiscal year
$750 rnillon
Projected budget deficit for next
fiscal year, which starts in October
2a050t0 0
Jobs projected to be added to
Michigan economy by 2006
,X percen
Projected drop in Michigan
unemployment rate by 2006