Best Practices or Budget Cuts?

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"As far as collaboration goes," the mayor continues, "we already collaborate with the county for community development, and we have combined data service with the county, and we have combined police dispatch. And we plan to do more."

The governor also wants employees to cover 10 percent of their health insurance premiums themselves. "Our staff is paying 12 percent," Hieftje says, "but that's without police and fire." The police officers union strongly opposed premium copays, arguing that its members were harmed by radon in the department's former offices. But they agreed in September to accept them--under pressure from state legislation that would mandate even bigger employee contributions.

The mayor believes the city will get "the maximum for transparency, collaboration, and health insurance. But it still won't add up to what we got last year, and the state will expect us to do more with less."

For schools, Snyder wants the same three "practices," plus taking bids to outsource non-educational services and becoming the policyholder on their employees' health insurance, meaning it'll no longer be subject to collective bargaining.