Quote Originally Posted by bailey View Post
How do you get that Detroit taxpayers are the the largest contributor to the Metroparks? they represent more than the residents of the 5 counties combined? really?
Not to mention the disparity in the taxable value of most homes in Detroit versus most of Oakland county. I can't find numbers beyond 2003 in my brief search, but:

Wayne County SEV total: $56,973,417,310
Oakland County SEV total: $67,085,441,782
Macomb County SEV total: $32,006,586,971
Livingston County SEV total: $8,538,149,077
Washtenaw County SEV total: $15,045,690,552
Detroit SEV total: $12,060,196,226 [[roughly 6-7%)

[[from http://www.crcmich.org/Almanac/Taxes/2003sev-tv.html)

So, about 6-7% of the total income to HCMA is coming from Detroit, [[as of 2003) compared to:

Wayne County population total: 1,925,848
Oakland County population total: 1,205,508
Macomb County population total: 831,427
Livingston County population total: 183,118
Washtenaw County population total: 347,563
Detroit population total: 871,121 [[roughly 20%)

[[population is based on 2009 estimates from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26/26163.html)

...about 20% of the population.

I know my numbers are a bit rough, but it suggests that the average Detroiter is contributing less in total dollars than the rest of the region, on average.