(WWJ) Insult to injury? As the city of Detroit struggles to get through the coronavirus outbreak with some of the worst numbers in the country, a budget deficit is looming.
On the coronavirus side, Michigan has the third highest number of cases across the country and the city itself has 5,501 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Experts say they see glimmers of hope for flattening the curve because though the sheer number of cases rise every day, the rate of new infections is slowly declining.
But once those number start to decline, Detroit -- which emerged from the largest municipal bankruptcy in history just six years ago -- may face a crisis of another kind.
"We're going to run a deficit of more than $100 million," Mayor Mike Duggan told WWJ's Jon Hewett, adding the city has had a balanced budget since he came into office. "We're going to solve it, but there's going to be a point at which we're going to have to talk about cuts."
The mayor added a day of reckoning is not far off and there could be drastic cuts. What's driving the sudden deficit?
Shuttered businesses, a shattered local and national economy, and the hard costs of handling the crisis certainly aren't helping. Duggan noted the city had to spend $400,000 last week to secure 15-minute tests, which they needed to detect the virus in first responders and get them back on the job.
But for now, he says he's focused solely on the health of city workers and residents.
