RTA_map_053116.jpg

A map of regional transit services proposed by the Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority.

(Southeast Michigan RTA)

DETROIT, MI - With a month to go before voters in southeast Michigan decide the fate of a regional transit tax proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot, a group has launched in opposition to the 20-year levy.

NoMassiveTransitTax.org is the official name and website for the opposition campaign that announced its formation on Monday, Oct. 3.

The website includes information about current transit costs and a calculator people can use to see how much money the 1.2-mill tax would cost them.

AAATA riders board a bus at the Blake Transit Center in downtown Ann Arbor on June 15, 2016.

For instance, it would cost the owner of a home with a $200,000 market value and a $100,000 taxable value an extra $120 per year in property taxes.

"This tax hike proposal is vastly more expensive than any other regional tax in metro Detroit history and will cost the average homeowner thousands of dollars," Leon Drolet, treasurer of NoMassiveTransitTax.org, said in a news release, referring to the cumulative cost of the tax over 20 years.

"But it isn't just the expense to citizens that is bad, the mass transit proposal also would close lanes on some major roads to cars by creating 'bus only' lanes that will make commuting far worse for car owners."



NoMassTransitTax.org is a coalition that includes the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance and the Wayne County Taxpayers Association. Drolet said the group filed its ballot question committee paperwork at the Wayne County Clerk's Office.



"Voters need to know that we could lease a new Chevrolet Trax SUV every two years for every mass transit user in metro Detroit using the money already spent on mass transit -- and have $150 million left over," Simon Haddad, vice chair of the MI Taxpayers Alliance, said in the news release. "But we could lease every area mass transit user a Cadillac every three years with the money this tax proposal would take from taxpayers. This plan is a big cash grab without adequate efficiencies like privatizing operations built into the proposal."



The Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority has put forward the $4.6 billion regional transit plan that awaits approval from voters in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties. It includes commuter rail service between Ann Arbor and Detroit and a host of regional bus services, including bus rapid transit along the Woodward, Gratiot, Michigan Avenue and Washtenaw Avenue corridors, and several cross-county connector buses, express buses and local buses, as well as paratransit services for the elderly and disabled.

The RTA argues getting people using transit decreases the amount of vehicles on the road, which reduces traffic congestion and pollution. The RTA also believes reliable transit will attract people and businesses to the region.

The RTA argues transit service levels are so low in the region that most people with other options don't use transit now, and 92 percent of jobs in southeast Michigan cannot be reached within 60 minutes using existing transit.

The RTA says its plan will connect people to 1.9 million existing jobs, 23 colleges, 310 schools and head start facilities, 22 hospitals, more than 100 grocery stores, at least 410 parks and 47 libraries with rapid, reliable regional transit.

Michael Ford, CEO of the RTA, gave a presentation on the RTA's plan at a forum last week in Ypsilanti.

A growing coalition of businesses, organizations and leaders throughout the region is voicing support for the RTA proposal. The pro-millage Citizens for Connecting our Communities campaign has a website at VoteYesForRegionalTransit.com.