The last attempt at a regional transit levy ran out of gas as it was basically a subsidy for Detroit and for the SWPL types in Ann Arbor with Oakland and Macomb counties footing a large portion of the bill for services they would never receive.
Regionalism yet again - Oakland and Macomb counties picking up the tab for Wayne County's desires, now with a new serving of Washtenaw county to boot.
So not dissuaded by failing the first time, they're at it again:
The Detroit News: Regional transit tax pushed for November ballot
Since at first they did not succeed, they'll keep pushing a vote until they get the result they want.
Metro Detroit leaders are working to put a regional transportation millage on November’s ballot just two years after voters narrowly rejected a tax hike to expand mass transit in southeastern Michigan.Regional leaders say they have been meeting to come up with a new plan and hope to make an announcement as early as this month. The group includes the “Big 4” — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel. Washtenaw County also has had a representative at the meetings, according to Jim Martinez, a spokesman for Evans.
Assuming it will seek the same amount of tax as before -- if not more -- its going to be a hard sell:
The millage would have cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $120 annually, RTA officials estimated.
That's before you pay the fare for the ride, assuming the ride is even close to the home from which you're paying the tax.
3 comments:
Hey Aaron;
Politicians love spending other peoples money. The hunger for more revenue is endemic for all government. They never get enough and they can't run on a budget.
The minute I saw that headline, I knew you were talking about Michigan. Just like the attempt to raise the gasoline tax a couple of years ago. They tried to do it on the sly, with fancy language, hiding it with all sorts of trickery. But the people were too smart, and voted it down by like 80%. So what did the government do? What any smart government would do. They just went and raised the tax on gasoline themselves, without going through the voters the second time.
Of course, over here in Muskegon, what they like to do is keep on asking for new millage raises, and if it fails, say that " We didn't explain it good enough", and so as soon as it is legal, they bring it around and vote for it again. If that one fails, they just do it over once more, hoping that sooner or later, enough voters will be out of town or on summer vacation, and it will pass.
I still say that the number one smartest thing that the voters in Michigan have ever done is to pass term limits. And the politicians agree also. Until they get into office, and the end of their term stares them in the face. Then you hear the story, " I didn't realize how long it really took to learn the job and make the contacts you need in order to be effective in Lansing, blah, blah, blah." When I hear that, it only tells me that we were right.
If the founding fathers had known that there would have been so many professional politicians, they would have written term limits into the constitution as well.
Hey, all those criminals need a way to get out to the suburbs, man.
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