Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson on Tuesday called for the dismantling of the Regional Transit Authority he spent years advocating for and said metro Detroit's transportation needs should shift to the existing suburban system.

In calling for renewal of the property taxes supporting the Suburban Mobility Authority Transportation System, Patterson said the RTA is a "glorified SMART" and should be abandoned in favor expanding SMART's service areas in Detroit and the suburbs.

"I think it's a bad idea," Patterson said.

Patterson's comments are a marked departure from his years of advocating for creation of the RTA — a political fight in Lansing that spanned three governors — and comes after months of wrangling with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Wayne County Executive Warren Evans over the future of the fledgling transit authority.

Patterson and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel on Tuesday began a public push for voters to renew the property taxes that fund SMART's service on the Aug. 7 primary ballot.

Hackel also suggested the long-sought Regional Transit Authority should be abandoned in favor of expanding SMART's service area in so-called opt-out communities in Oakland and Wayne counties, including Detroit. Macomb County has a countywide 1-mill property tax that supports SMART bus service.

"SMART is our regional transit provider," Hackel said. "I don't see the RTA moving forward."

The Macomb County Democrat repeatedly warned that SMART's millage renewal in Macomb County is at risk because of ongoing public debate over the RTA.

"We've got to set that aside right now because my No. 1 worry is people are going to get confused," he said. "If (SMART renewal) fails in Macomb County, we are left without a provider. We cannot allow that to happen."

Hackel and Patterson held a news conference on Mound Road in Shelby Township across the road from the site of a new 1 million-square-foot Amazon.com distribution center that's being constructed where a Visteon Corp. auto parts plant once stood along 23 Mile Road and Mound.

SMART has worked with Amazon to add bus service to the facility when it comes online later this year, employing 1,200 workers. The suburban agency did the same for the sprawling fulfillment center Amazon is expected to open this summer in Romulus north of I-94 and Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

"We have a regional transit system," Patterson said pointing to SMART buses parked across the road as backdrop for the news conference.

Wayne County and Detroit leaders, joined by officials from Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, have been publicly pushing Patterson and Hackel for months to come to agreement on a regional transit tax and plan that could muster voter support after a 2016 ballot question was narrowly defeated.

Hackel has pushed back on the need, trotting out a new acronym for RTA — Roads and Talent Attraction — at Tuesday's event.

"Those are the big issues facing the region — roads and talent attraction," Hackel said.

Duggan's office highlighted Patterson's support of the 2012 law that created the Regional Transit Authority in response to his call to abandon it.

"We continue to believe a robust investment is needed in transit to improve the competitiveness of the region and to provide access to opportunities for all of our residents," COO Dave Massaron said in a statement. "Brooks Patterson correctly identified the problem with opt-outs when he pushed for the original regional transit bill. And as he has admitted, all four counties will receive more than 100 percent return in transit service for their residents. Voters deserve the opportunity to vote on this plan."

Patterson dismissed a recent letter signed by 23 CEOs of the region's largest employers, who urged regional leaders to move forward with a plan to improve public transportation services but did not specifically endorse Evans' $5.4 billion 20-year tax plan.

"Those 23 CEOs who signed the letter, I'm sure they haven't read the plan," Patterson told reporters. "And if they have, they don't understand the nuances of what we're talking about today. We have a regional transit system."

RTA supporters have said it's a necessary entity to fill holes in the existing SMART system and create an overarching entity to coordinate bus services between SMART and the Detroit Department of Transportation. Twenty-four of 62 communities in Oakland County have opted into SMART's service and taxing system.

Novi, Livonia and Canton, for example, are large job centers that have opted out of the SMART system, leaving no affordable transit options for low-wage workers without cars to get to jobs in those communities.

SMART General Manager John Hertel said the suburban agency is in talks with three communities in Oakland and Wayne counties about opting into the system. He declined to name the communities, citing the sensitive nature of the talks.