During Michigan’s primary elections on Aug. 5, residents of Wayne County voted to levy a millage to fund public transit countywide. The referendum passed, with 67% of ballots cast in favor. The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) system in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland Counties is funded by a property tax millage; however, every midterm election year, individual communities have the option to opt out of the SMART system, forgoing the millage but also forgoing SMART service. Seventeen communities in Wayne County, including Detroit, have continuously opted out of the SMART system through 2026. But last year, Michigan’s state government passed and enacted a law that ended the opt-out system, setting up this year’s referendum to either fund or not fund the system countywide.

While those who live in the 17 communities that have previously been allowed to opt out of the SMART system will now pay a new tax, residents of other communities in Wayne County have simply renewed their existing millage. Historically, Detroit has opted out of the SMART system because it runs its own transit through the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT); the referendum solves this problem by distributing the new revenue between SMART, DDOT and other transit providers in the county. This tax costs roughly $0.98 for every $1,000 of taxable land value for each year from 2026 through 2035. SMART claims that the new revenue will not only fund existing routes but allow for the addition of eight new routes and five route extensions in the previously opted out communities.