Hamtramck seeks state permission to file for bankruptcy

``A spokesman for the Department of Treasury said, under state law, a municipality can't file for bankruptcy without first having an emergency financial manager appointed. Caleb Buhs, a Department of Treasury spokesman, said the department received the letter Monday and officials are studying it. Under a 1990 law, only an emergency financial manager appointed by the state can take a city into bankruptcy, he said. No Michigan municipality has declared bankruptcy before or since the law was passed, he said. ''