State Rep. Jim Tedder got the message sent by voters on Proposal 1 last week.
“A big expletive followed by a bold ‘no,'” said Tedder, serving his first term as representative of District 43, which includes Clarkston and Independence Township. “The more information I presented to people, the more they became disgruntled and angry with it.”
In Independence Township, 6,602 voters cast “no” votes out of 8,102 ballots, 81.49 percent of the total. In Clarkston, there were 207 “no” votes out of 288, 88 percent. Springfield Township voters cast 2,804 against the state proposal, 85.54 percent.
Statewide, there were 194,956 “no” votes, 77.25 percent. Voter turnout was 27.44 percent.
Two-thirds of Clarkston area voters approved of a separate ballot issue, Clarkston Community School’s millage renewal, with 6,746 “yes” votes out of 10,023 ballots cast, 67.31 percent.
Proposal 1 was too confusing and didn’t prioritize roads, Tedder said.
Now, the Michigan house and senate’s job is to hammer out a new way to fix the roads.
“I don’t think anything is off the table,” the representative said. “A caveat is education ? I don’t support tapping into the schools.”
The prison budget, health and human services, and other programs need to be reviewed, he said.
“Certainly help those in need and provide a safety net, (but) this is an opportunity to scrutinize which programs are working and which are not, to look for redundancies,” he said.
Serving on the Education Committee, he will look into raising funding for districts such as Clarkston, which received $7,251 per pupil.
“Education is one of my passions ? I plan to look into that,” he said. “Since Proposal A passed, Clarkston and most Oakland County districts pay higher property taxes but are on the lowest rungs for funding.”
For roads, the state must consider new ways of funding, he said.
“Pay at the pump is antiquated,” he said. “I don’t think the legislature should leave for the summer, not until the job is done.”
Tedder’s upcoming office hours include on May 15 at Pete’s Coney II in Clarkston from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., and May 22 at Fino’s Family Dining in Waterford from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Check RepJimTedder.com’email JimTedder@house.mi.gov.