Detroit is fast running out of money and heading toward a state takeover and the appointment of an emergency financial manager, Mayor Dave Bing said today.

It’s projected that the city will have a cash shortage of about $150 million by the end of March, the mayor’s office said, according to Reuters.

The only way to avoid a state takeover, Bing said, is for union employees to come to the table and renegotiate their contracts, accepting deep cuts in pension and health care benefits by the summer, the Detroit Free Press reported.

"City government has to live within its means," Bing said in a statement, Reuters reported. "Continuing to do business the same way is not an option, given our extremely serious financial condition. The last thing I want is for Detroit to be run by an emergency financial manager, whether it's me or someone else."

Michigan has already appointed emergency managers for the cities of Pontiac, Ecorse and Benton Harbor and for the Detroit Public Schools, Reuters reported.

Officials and union leaders complained the mayor was just trying to rattle their cages with his talk of an emergency manager taking control.

"The City Council will support smart, tough decisions, but we need the mayor to show some leadership on this issue," Council President Charles Pugh said in a statement, the Detroit News reported. "We should be talking about bold ideas — an emergency financial manager is the last thing we should be talking about."

John Riehl, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, told the Detroit News that Bing has talked about becoming an emergency manager before and now "he's threatening again." Unions had already made health care concessions of nearly 20 percent, Riehl told the Detroit News, but, he said, the mayor is "trying to crank it up by changing the rules closer to 30 percent."

Union employees agreed to 10 percent pay cuts last year, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“This is not a ploy,” Bing told the Detroit Free Press. “If we don’t get this done, we’ll have to get an emergency manager. We won’t have a choice. We’ll be out of money.”

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