Why not eliminate Oakland's donor status?
Some have suggested that road problems in Oakland County could be eliminated or reduced if we simply eliminated this condition and returned 100 percent of the funds collected for roads in the county. For a number of reasons, this is simply not realistic, though adjustments have been made in the past to reduce Oakland's donor status.

Here are some of the reasons Oakland's donor status cannot simply be eliminated:
1. Oakland is not the only donor in terms of transportation dollars. In fact, all "urban" counties in Michigan are donors.
2. The "urban" counties subsidize the rural counties that do not have the population or other tax base to generate enough money to maintain their roads.
3. In recent winters, the road commissions in some northern counties were unable to plow snow on the weekends because they could not afford the overtime. Eliminating the donor status of "urban" counties would make this situation worse.
4. If all "urban" counties got back 100 percent of the transportation funds they generate, rural counties would be devastated.

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1. How much money does a penny of gas tax generate in Michigan, and for Oakland County?
2. Are all of our taxes going to fixing the roads?
3. Doesn't all the development taking place in Oakland County mean lots of new money for roads?
4. How are road funds divided between the state and local road agencies?
5. Statistics indicate that we've all been driving more. Doesn't that mean more gas tax revenue?
6. How are federal funds distributed in Oakland County?
7. Is RCOC spending all its money in some other community?
8. What do road improvements cost RCOC?
9. Why don't developers pay more for adding traffic to our area?
10. What about using property taxes for roads?
11. Why not eliminate Oakland's donor status?
12. Why aren't the roads widened before multiple housing projects (or commercial developments or other traffic generators) are allowed?