It’s a new legislative term, and one of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s first calls for action was to increase taxes.

“To my friends in the GOP: fixing the roads in a sustainable way means looking for new, fair sources of revenue,” Whitmer said in a Jan. 16 press release.

Whitmer’s primary campaign promise in 2018 was to fix Michigan roads. Seven years later, the governor is still talking about roads. But her latest comments did not say where the increased revenue will come from. Options could include raising the gas tax, enacting toll roads, or creating a mileage tax.

“We can’t just cut our way to better roads. Defunding public safety or public health is not the way to fix potholes,” Whitmer added in the press release.

Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Paw Paw, used a Jan. 16 social media post to criticize Whitmer’s handling of roads.

“She had 6 years, a 40% increase in state revenue, a legislative trifecta and a $9 billion dollar surplus,” Nesbitt wrote on X.

Nesbitt criticized Whitmer’s spending priorities, which have been dominated by corporate handouts, and he said the governor does not have a long-term plan to fix the roads.

“Governor Whitmer’s speech on Wednesday proved she heard nothing the people of Michigan said this past November,” said Nesbitt in an email to CapCon. Nesbitt recently announced that he will run for governor in 2026, when Whitmer will be term-limited out of office.

Michigan Capitol Confidential reported in April that the share of roads assessed as in good or fair condition will drop over the next year.

The Transportation Asset Management Council reports that 25% of Michigan’s roads were in good condition in 2024, while 38% were in fair condition, and 37% were in poor condition.

But the share of roads in good condition will drop to 20% by 2034, the council said. The share in fair condition will drop to 32%, and the share in poor condition rise to 48%.

The council is expected to update those numbers in a new report to be published in the first half of the year.

In the months before Whitmer took office, projections for road conditions showed a slight improvement and then a slight decrease in the percentage of good/fair roads.

“The governor could have improved road quality by spending more of the state’s growing budget on road repair,” said James Hohman, fiscal policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “She spent gains on corporate welfare and pork instead.”

Shortly after taking office in 2019, Whitmer proposed a 45-cent gas tax increase, an idea that a House Democratic leader declared dead by August 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan received a large cash infusion in federal aid and it had a $9 billion surplus during the 2023-2024 legislative term. Lawmakers spent most of it, though not to ramp up spending on roads. Under a one-term Democratic trifecta, the state promised $4.6 billion in corporate subsidies.

Though the governor is calling again for more taxes, newly elected House Speaker, Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, has other ideas. Hall proposed a plan on Jan. 16 to use $3.1 billion in annual revenue to fix local roads without raising taxes. The plan would pull $1 billion from subsidy programs, $600 million from the general fund, $500 million from legislative earmarks, $500 million from the corporate attraction fund. It also would rely on dedicating to the roads all taxes paid at the pump, expected to raise $945 million.

Whitmer did not respond to an email seeking comment.

[Editor’s note: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed this bill into law.]

Residents of Oakland and Wayne counties might pay more in property taxes under a transportation bill approved by the Legislature during December’s lame-duck session.

The bill aims to eliminate the choice to opt out of the county’s public transit authority, the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation. It would also remove the five-year limit on taxes levied by public transit authorities.

House Bill 6088 says that if the voters of a county with a population of at least 1.1 million — currently Wayne and Oakland counties — approve a transit millage, no political subdivision, such as a city or village, could opt out of membership in the transit system.

If signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the bill would allow a public transportation authority to levy a tax of up to five mills on all taxable property.

The tax may be levied for up to five years, as determined by the authority, although a public transit authority may levy a tax for up to 25 years for public transit services that include a rail or cable car system.

A political subdivision’s withdrawal must receive voter approval or the approval of the political subdivision’s legislative body and two-thirds of the public transit authority’s board members.

SMART, the regional transportation authority, did not respond to a request for comment.

The forced transit tax would take effect after the county’s current public transit millage expires, at which time each political subdivision within the county would become a member of the public transit authority and be required to pay the millage, regardless of whether the political subdivision was a member before the bill takes effect.

Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans welcomed the bill he said in a Dec. 20 Facebook post.

“This amendment will finally put us on the path toward expanded transit options that will not only make life better for our current residents but will make us more appealing and attractive to individuals and businesses who might consider relocating here.”

The number of rides provided by SMART has plummeted to about half what it was in 2008 — from just under 1.4 million to about 700,000, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

In 2020 during the pandemic, ridership dropped from just under 1 million rides to fewer than 200,000, but the figure has since rebounded to about 700,000 rides.

The Wayne County Transit Authority levies and collects property taxes within Wayne County on behalf of SMART, a regional transportation authority organized under the Metropolitan Transportation Authorities Act. According to committee testimony, 17 out of 43 communities in Wayne County—representing 500,000 residents—have opted out of the transit millage.

The transit millage generated $87.8 million for SMART operations in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, according to the House Fiscal Agency.

House Bill 6088 would have no direct impact on state revenues or expenditures. The amount of additional revenue cannot be readily estimated at this time, according to House analysts.

The bill sets up a “future tax grab,” Rep. Donni Steele, R-Orion Township, who currently serves as Republican vice chair of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

“Oakland County already imposes a countywide transit millage, and this new transit tax would open the door for future increases. If we continue down this path, taxes may get so high that people will be forced to leave our community altogether,” Steele wrote. “Many communities have no use for public transit, yet they’re forced to pay for it anyway. People are already struggling with tight budgets as they attempt to navigate rising grocery, gas, and energy costs. The last thing they need is to be forced into paying more for a bus they don’t even ride on.”