Bus Tax Update

I've been discussing (whining?) about the proposed property tax increase to fund the bus system here for a while now, so I thought I would provide an update of sorts that will help explain why it can be so frustrating to live in a high tax city like Ann Arbor.

According to this story in the Ann Arbor News, the director of the transity authority has spent $145,000 on travel in the last five years. That's just one guy. When you count all employees of the bus system, they have apent more than $308,000 on travel in that same period. Let me repeat that. The employees of the BUS SYSTEM have spent $308,000 on TRAVEL in the past FIVE YEARS. Why?

And they are going to ask me to increase the amount of money I pay each month in property taxes to keep the buses running.

According to the News, the bus system's annual budget is $22.7 million. There are "almost" 4.9 million passenger boardings each year. If my math is right, it costs about $4.63 for each and every ride on the city bus.

This is insane. And it's just one of the eight independent government or quasi-government agencies whose name appears on the itemized property tax bill I just paid for my modest home. The total, by the way, was $4,100, and it's for just part of the year.