Eric Tucker of Maryland to direct Detroit's finances.

CHICAGO - Eric M. Tucker, a county finance official in Maryland, will be appointed finance director of Detroit, both Tucker and city officials said.

An announcement of Tucker's appointment by Mayor Dennis Archer will be released soon, city officials said.

Tucker will succeed Bella Marshall as finance director. Marshall, who was appointed by former Mayor Coleman Young, left when the Archer Administration took office in January.

Tucker said in a telephone interview last week that he will begin his job in Detroit at the end of June. He is currently director of the office of finance in Prince George's County - a post he has held since December 1989. As the county's finance director, he oversees bond sales, investments, and other financial matters.

Prior to that, Tucker served as treasury manager of the University of Maryland System, where he managed the capital debt program and directed investment of the system's endowment fund.

Tucker said he is aware of the challenges facing Detroit and the need to "fix" the city's financial structure.

With the city facing a projected budget deficit of $63.3 million, Archer last month proposed a $2.2 billion fiscal 1995 budget that would be balanced through the sale of #125 million of new and restructured deficit funding bonds.

The mayor's plan calls for restructuring $82 million of remaining principal from the city's 1992 issuance of $106 million of five-year deficit funding bonds and issuing about $43 million of new deficit funding bonds.

Proceeds from the $43 million debt sale, along with $20 million saved through restructuring the old debt to eliminate principal payments until fiscal 1996, would erase the projected budget deficit. Detroit's fiscal year begins July 1.

The Detroit city council has a deadline of next Tuesday to take action on the mayor's budget.

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