You are absolutely right.
“The review team found Detroit’s cash-flow deficit is nearly $100 million. That’s on top of an accumulated deficit of $327 million. The city also has $14.9 billion worth of unfunded pension and employment retirement liabilities, according to the review team report. In five years, it needs $1.9 billion to begin making payments on the debt.”
The same situation no doubt repeated (repeating) elsewhere, Philly, Chicago being one of those.
What’s needed is a ban on deficit spending. Borrowing can only be justified for capital projects where the asset outlasts the term of the loan.
FWIW up here it’s illegal for cities to run deficits.