The CGC is unnecessarily rushing things.  They should just wait until the Boundary Commission issues its recommendation before undertaking studies of potential savings.

Fact:   Once the State of Michigan's Director of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (DLARA) signs a consolidation order, there is a mandated maximum of only 45 days to file a referendum petition (Details here.)  If the CGC waited for the DLARA order before beginning to analyze potential cost-savings, we would be denying citizens that amount of time to study and weigh the cost-savings involved.  Conducting sound cost-savings studies and analyses now is the only responsible course of action.  While the cities claim to have conducted their own such studies, none have been made public.  Many doubt such studies even exist. (Editor's note: This turned out to be well-placed doubt as both cities finally admitted late in December that there were no such studies.)