Health, disability benefits part of Detroit probe

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit’s state-appointed emergency manager on Thursday ordered an investigation into possible waste, abuse, fraud and corruption in the city’s two pension funds and all employee benefit programs, including health and disability programs.

The order was signed on the same day members of Kevyn Orr’s restructuring team met with union leaders on plans to cut into health care and pensions as part of city debt restructuring.

The joint investigation will be led by Detroit’s auditor general and inspector general, who will report their findings to Orr within 60 days.

“As we’ve looked into the various operations into the pensions and other benefits, we found some irregularities that we wanted to look at,” Nowling said.

Orr has warned that without millions of dollars in concessions on bond and pension debt the city risks going into municipal bankruptcy. He met last week with about 180 bond insurers, pension trustees, union representatives and other creditors on concessions needed to keep Detroit out of bankruptcy.

His team said Detroit is defaulting on about $2.5 billion in unsecured debt and is asking creditors to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what the city owes them. Underfunded retirement benefits claims likely would get less than that.

The cash-strapped city owes about $3.5 billion to Detroit’s general services pension fund and its police and fire pension fund, according to Orr spokesman Bill Nowling.