I waited for the polls to close today before posting this on this thread to remove any thoughts of political motivation. Many people in the DMA really could care less about sprawl but this thread is an exception, many posters seem to care deeply about the effects of suburban sprawl. I would like to throw some data out and get some opinions. Post#, muni, mills.
#1 Macomb Twp 25.73
#2 Shelby Twp. 32.66
#4 Plymouth Twp 29.52
#6 Brighton 38.04
Milford 32.33
#21 Brownstown Twp. 33.55
#26 Oakland Twp. 29.79
#57 Rochester 35.38
#65 Northville Twp. 33.43
#69 Commerce Twp. 30.33
Detroit. 67.74
School districts chosen at random
https://treas-secure.state.mi.us/pte...TEstimator.asp
With everyone of those sprawly communities having a property tax rate of less than half of Detroit's how could anyone expect the new housing to go anywhere but out? New housing is a fact of life in America, a certain amount of people will always want, desire, and buy/build new housing. Passing a law that stops it is really unrealistic. Wouldn't the entire metro area and state benifit from a flat property tax just to level the playing field on the finacial incentive on where to build new housing? Even the city of Detroit realized that they were cutting off their nose to spite their face by coming up with the NEZ. Hypotheticals on muni bond market collapse or federal funds vanishing is only wishful thinking to stop sprawl. Personal tax reform in this state that included a flat property tax would give older communities at least a fighting chance.