We remember the chilling headline in a New York newspaper when the Big Apple was facing bankruptcy.

It was 1975, and President Gerald Ford declared he would veto any legislation calling for a federal bailout of New York City.

The headline in the New York Daily News — “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.”

When Gov. Terry McAuliffe was asked by a reporter earlier this month if there were plans to propose legislation to help financially stricken Petersburg, the governor’s reply was a tad bit better than President Ford’s to New York City, but it may have had the same result.

“I’m sure we’re not going to see legislation proposed to deal with this situation,” Gov. McAuliffe told the reporter.

“We have no authority to give any money. But we do have the authority to send our team in to help get the books together, get the finances together.”

He said since being alerted to Petersburg’s critical situation two months ago, he sent state Secretary of Finance Rick Brown and a team of financial experts in.

“Our team has been here, they’ve been staying here, and we want to give all the assistance we can,” Gov. McAuliffe continued. “But we gotta get the books straight here.”

Clearly, the city needs technical experts in a lot of fields, including the state’s audit team. But it needs a lot more than that.

On Wednesday night, Petersburg officials were about to commit another wrong turn when the mayor and City Council were poised to appoint a new city manager who has been followed by trouble.

Rochelle Small-Toney was about to be offered the manager’s job in Petersburg when public outrage put the brakes on it because of reported questions and difficulties that plagued her job performance in Charlottesville and Savannah, Ga.

We believe the last thing Petersburg needs right now is to invite more trouble in the door.

The state audit team learned — and disclosed in a public meeting — that the city was in a deeper hole than originally thought. Petersburg had about $14 million in unpaid bills as of June 30. The city had been spending far more than it was bringing in nearly every year since 2012, the auditors found.

And the state found the city was planning to sink even deeper into red ink in the 2016-17 budget year. The approved budget called for the city to spend $12.5 million more than it expected to receive in revenue.

The team provided recommendations, such as pursue short-term financing to help meet immediate needs. But so far, that hasn’t worked because the city is in such bad financial shape.

The state Constitution doesn’t allow a jurisdiction to declare bankruptcy.

And state lawmakers, including House Majority Leader Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, said a bailout for Petersburg was highly unlikely, in part, because it would set a bad precedent.

So what’s Petersburg to do?

Already, the City Council has slashed spending, including a $3.4 million cut to the city’s public schools budget, cut pay for city workers, frozen hiring and raised taxes on everything from cigarettes, meals and lodging taxes to personal property taxes to bring the current budget into balance. It still leaves untouched most of the $14 million in debt from previous years.

We call on Gov. McAuliffe and state lawmakers to do more to assist the city, including a short-term bridge loan to the city. The state routinely provides financial incentives to companies locating in the commonwealth. Why can’t it extend some type of economic aid to Petersburg in anticipation of a future payback? Or perhaps a loan guarantee that would help the city to obtain money through typical channels?

Can state officials really sit by and watch as essential public services, such as fire, police, schools and trash collection are affected?

If a personnel change is in order, then perhaps Petersburg residents would be best served by electing a new mayor and City Council members.

Until then, we believe Petersburg urgently needs a stable, consistent and skilled hand to guide it through the worst of this crisis. We believe that interim City Manager Dironna Belton clearly gets what the state auditors have pointed out and that she has the mettle to get Petersburg back on course.

The last thing Petersburg residents need right now is more unsettling moves, news and changes. The public needs to feel more confident in the city’s direction and its leaders — including state officials who have an obligation to offer more resources and solutions to help the city.

Without public confidence in the city’s ability to handle this crisis, Petersburg may become a ghost town as residents who can, leave.

That’s not what we want to see.

We can’t afford to tell Petersburg to drop dead.