The city of Detroit officially exited bankruptcy on December 10th, but documents filed yesterday reveal just how much the process cost the city - Detroit paid $178m (€146m) in fees to lawyers and consultants. The largest payment was made to Jones Day, Detroit's largest law firm - its services cost $57.9m.
The once-booming industrial city filed the largest civic bankruptcy in US history in July of 201, with debts of $18bn.
Detroit officials released these figures after raising concerns with US bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes over the high cost of the process, and the stress that it was putting on the city's budget.
Mr. Rhodes requested on December 15th that the city would file a final disclosure of fees and expenses by yesterday. These figures will be examined by the judge, and he "will determine what further process is appropriate to determine the reasonableness of fees."
At the height of the city's problems only 40 percent of its street lights worked. When the city entered bankruptcy it took police an average of 58 minutes to respond to citizens’ calls, that time is now down to 18 minutes.
Detroit Mayor, Mike Duggan commented at the end of the bankruptcy process: "We're going to start fresh tomorrow and do the best we can to deliver the kind of services people deserve".
