http://www.politicalruminations.com/2011/04/michigan-governors-criteria-and-list-of-towns-eligible-for-takeover-by-an-emergency-financial-manager.htmlIs your community eligible for a takeover by Governor-Dictator Rick Snyder?23 April 2011
As you can see, there are 3 different “tests” for eligibility. A community has to meet only 1 of the criteria sets in order to be deemed eligible.
Additionally, please note that the criteria were farmed from an old law, PA 346 of 1966. Yes, 1966. Now, I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that in the past, these criteria were used to not only help struggling communities, but to enable enterprise incentives. Why does that matter? Because the criteria definitely were not intended to diagnose a failing municipality, which makes it far more likely that more Michigan municipalities would land on this list than if more appropriate criteria were used.
Criteria can be found at above link.
My town's on the list, along with my hometown.
What's to stop a town from being bullied to acquiesce to the state's demand just to stop an EFM takeover?