COO Memo: Detroit Only Paying Critical Vendors

DETROIT (WJBK) -- Not all of Detroit's bill are getting paid. Friday, the COO of the city sent out a memo saying that only vendors deemed "critical" will get their money.

The memo said this critical vendor policy is effective immediately. They say the city needs to save $102 million by June 30th, so they plan to send out a few IOUs, and they're hoping that city vendors see things their way. Slow money is better than no money.

"We want to pay them. We're going to pay them. We just have to find the cash to do it," said Detroit City Council President Pro-Tem Gary Brown.

Who knows how long that could take. Detroit's Chief Operating Officer Chris Brown put out a memo stating that for the time being Detroit will only pay critical bills, meaning the ones necessary to keep the city running.

"We're running out of cash and we have to make some very, very tough decisions on what vendors and contractors will be paid, although we intend to pay them all, but they'll be paid on a priority system," Brown explained.

So far, there's no criteria for which vendors are critical. That will be determined by department heads. They will tell the chief operating officer who they think deserves to be paid, and then the mayor's office will make the final call.

In a written statement, Chris Brown said "This is all about managing our cash flow... This represents a shift of where we want to be to manage our cash flow."

Detroit needs to save $102 million by June 30th, and if that doesn't happen, expect even more cuts.

"We're going to be looking at should we raise the fare on buses by 50 cents, and so we're going to be looking to raise new revenues. We're going to be looking to bring our cost in line with revenue, and we're going to be looking at a whole host of things that are painful and difficult but have to be done if we're going to get through the crisis that we're in," Brown said.

On Monday, city council will also talk about closing all of the recreation centers. That would be a devastating blow to both kids and seniors, but that move alone would save the city $19 million.