From right, Independence Township Supervisor Pat Kittle makes the case for the RTA resolution to Clarkston City Council members Al Avery, Jason Kneisc, Joe Luginski, Mayor Eric Haven, and Scott Reynolds. Photo by Phil Custodio

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Clarkston City Council members were sympathetic to a local drive against a proposed Regional Transit Authority (RTA) millage, but fell short of jumping on board at Monday’s meeting.
Independence Township Supervisor Pat Kittle attended the Jan. 27 City Council meeting to support a proposed resolution against a multi-county RTA public transportation  millage, saying it wouldn’t benefit north Oakland County.
Council member Scott Reynolds said parts of the proposed resolution, including “RTA and county official have not confirmed whether RTA transportation funds will be diverted to buy down a balloon loan for the Q-Line Rail on Woodward Avenue or to pay off unfunded pension and retiree health care liabilities for AAATA, SMART, and DDOT transportation authorities,” were speculative.
“I’m used to seeing resolutions that are factual based,” Reynolds said.
“I just find it a little bit inflammatory,” said Council member Al Avery. “There’s a lot of opinion in here. And we were not provided with any information before tonight, just this resolution, so I have a problem with that.”
Avery called for the resolution to be more straightforward.
“Why can’t we just say that, based upon the fact that we don’t have knowledge as to what the funds are going to be used for, like Scott was saying, at this point in time we were strongly opposed in spirit, instead of quoting Crain’s Detroit Business. Not that they’re wrong or right, but I don’t know,” he said. “You’re asking us to put our name to something that I don’t know is accurate.”
According to the proposed resolution, City Council “is unanimous in this declaration that we are vehemently opposed to the current RTA public transportation and millage proposal because there is not a single penny of return on the city’s millage investment if the ballot question were to pass.”
It also calls for an opt-out clause in the pending state legislative amendments, which would allow any of the 10 northern townships or six western townships to be exempt from the millage.
The proposed resolution cites a Crain’s article from Nov. 18, 2019, regarding the history of the push for a mass-transit property tax in Oakland, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties.
Kittle said the council could make their resolution however they wanted.
“I didn’t make this stuff up. I didn’t make any assumptions,” he said. “My recommendation is, if you don’t want your pocket picked, you might want to tell your representatives, senators, the governor, you don’t appreciate these guys trying to extract tax dollars without a plan.”
The late L. Brooks Patterson, the previous county executive, protected north Oakland County from an RTA proposal in 2016, Kittle said.
“We have one now who is so willing to share our good fortune with other communities. I know I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but it is what it is,” he said. “I’m responsible for this community’s tax dollars and this is the worst investment, as far as return on investment, that I’ve ever seen.”
Avery made a motion to send the resolution back for revision, then bring it back for a vote at a later City Council meeting. City manager Jonathan Smith said he will look at other townships’ examples when rewriting it. The motion was approved unanimously.