By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp. — A multi-community committee is taking a hard look at just how county officials are going to effectively use a couple million in newly gathered taxpayer money.
A survey has been created to gather feedback for the public transit needs of residents of Brandon, Groveland, Holly, Rose and Springfield townships as well as the villages of Ortonville and Holly.
“The five townships met with the villages, and decided to put out a survey to find out what the residents needs are for transportation,” said Holly Township Supervisor George Kullis. “We’re trying to be proactive.”
The survey comes after the passing of the Oakland County Transit Millage in Nov. 2022. The millage levies .95 mills on Oakland County residents over 10 years, replacing the SMART millage in communities. There is no option for communities to opt out. The millage also did not pass in the townships of Northwest Oakland County, but had enough votes county-wide to pass.
“They aren’t even going to have service up in this area for three to four years,” said Kullis. “We don’t think that’s fair. The entire region was opposed to the transit tax.”
Approximately $2.5 million is being collected from the five townships yearly, but there is currently no service being provided to residents in these areas.
“The money is being collected, and they told this area that they’re going to get services,” he said. “It passed, so now we just want to get some of the services we’re paying for.”
Anyone who wants to fill out the survey can do so by going to ortonvillevillage.com/links-resources and scanning the QR code.