Should the August 2014 SMART Property Tax be raised? If so, how much?

[That Great Guy]

With this vote just weeks away, it is time to get informed as to vote YES or NO.

Opinions and facts please. Should we vote an increase? how much? Should this be capped with a choice to raise, if we want?

Extract from the Transportation Riders United.


TRU recommends a 1.8 mil property tax in the August 2014 ballot. This would enable SMART to not only restore essential service that was cut in 2011 and to overhaul its aging bus fleet, but to also expand service hours and routes and begin to develop Arterial Rapid Transit service along major regional corridors. This would cost the average household less than 25 cents per day and still remain lower than Lansing, Saginaw, or Ann Arbor’s transit millage rates.

End of Extract from TRU

There are many misconceptions, false propagandas, scare tactics and emotions concerning this popular tax proposal to increase funding for community transit.

It is time to open our hearts and minds, instead of waiting until the last minute when newspapers could again claim a mass transit shutdown. Public mass transit as defined by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a basic right and must be equally accessible to everyone to qualify for any tax support.

Tax shifting without first securing alternative funds is also against our rights concerning this tax, even for the large SMART buses, if federal laws are enforced by means of protesting.

So, please comment and YES, this will pass So, how do we stop bus service reductions? high costs? how to increase ridership.

Please do not comment on voting NO, unless you can know what this means and too many of you don't. So, know the facts before you post, if you can?