MichiganRadio

Kent County Voters To Decide On Tax Increase For New Rapid Bus Line ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - Kent County voters will decide tomorrow (Tues) whether to approve a property tax increase to pay for the state's first bus rapid transit line.

Supporters say the new line would operate more like a train than a traditional bus, with permanent stations, where people will pay before they board.

Jennifer Kalczuk is with The Rapid, which runs buses in Kent County. She says the cost to build the system will be covered mostly by the federal government.

"It certainly could happen that if we're not able to take advantage of it and use it, that those funds would go elsewhere," Kalczuk says.

That's because the county has to show it can pay to keep the line running, before the federal government will pay to build it.

"The fact that the federal government has a poor way of distributing tax money is not a reason to build things that don't make any sense," says Eric Larson of the Kent County Families for Fiscal Responsibility. "And this bus line doesn't make any sense."

Larson says the current bus line works fine.

The proposed tax increase would cost about $12 per year, for someone who owns a house worth $150,000.
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