Oakland and Macomb County Block RTA Ballot Proposal
The Board of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan failed to approve a ballot proposal Thursday.
The question of funding a Regional Master Transit Plan in Metro Detroit may NOT make it to the General Election ballot this November.
The Board of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan failed to approve a ballot proposal Thursday that would have put the millage question to voters.
Representatives from Oakland and Macomb Counties effectively blocked the RTA effort from moving forward.
Don Morandini is one of Macomb County’s RTA representatives. He said he voted against the proposal because of concerns about the plan’s current financial model, instead preferring an alternative.
Morandini said, “That model allows every individual, a representative of every partner to be able to vote on major funding issues.”
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson have expressed their resistance to a transit plan they say wouldn’t fully serve their counties or support the SMART bus system.
The RTA board said it will try to devise another model in time to place a measure on the November ballot.
