Third time was the charm for the North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA) in Addison Township.
NOTA’s millage proposal was approved by just 18 votes in the May 5 election.
The five-year, 0.25-mill tax increase passed 819 to 801.
The $70,000 per year in additional revenue that will be generated by the new tax will allow Addison to rejoin NOTA. Being a member of NOTA will give the township’s senior citizens, disabled individuals and low-income residents access to affordable public transportation.
Addison residents have been without NOTA’s services since Jan. 1 because the township was forced to withdraw from the entity following two millage failures last year.
While it was a good day for NOTA, May 5 was a bad day for the state’s Proposal 1, which would have raised taxes by $2 billion annually to provide additional funding for roads, schools, rail/mass transit, local governments, the state’s general fund and tax relief for low-to-moderate income individuals. Revenue from Proposal 1 would have also been used to help pay down existing debt incurred by the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Oxford and Addison voters followed the lead of voters throughout the rest of the state and overwhelmingly rejected Proposal 1.
In Oxford, the tax increase failed 3,425 to 564, while Addison voters failed it 1,442 to 190.