Waterford Township does not have jurisdiction over this road, the Road Commission for Oakland County does. Unfortunately, due to the ever-worsening road-funding crisis in Michigan, there are going to be more and more roads like this. We simply have no money to resurface many of the roads that desperately need it. The Road Commission is funded through state-collected gas tax and vehicle registration fees. The revenue from these sources have been going down for years, while the cost of maintaining roads has been going up. The state legislature, which controls these funding sources, does not appear interested in addressing this problem, so the roads will get worse (likely much worse) before they get better.

Road Commission for Oakland County

It's a mystery to me that this has been left for so long.. My husband called the Road Commission about this and was asked if he thought the residents would be willing to pay for the resurfacing. Where are our taxes going if not to those roads that are in bad shape?

Please see message below. Your property taxes do not go to the Road Commission. We are funded primarily through the state-collected gas tax and vehicle registration fees. Those revenues have been going down for years, while the cost of maintaining road has been skyrocketing. Additionally, it is a long-standing policy of the Road Commission that, due to insufficient funding, we do not resurface subdivision streets unless the residents of the street are willing to pay for the project through a special assessment district (SAD). If you are interested in learning about the SAD process, please call the Road Commission at 877-858-4804. Thank you.
- Road Commission for Oakland County

Again, where are our taxes going? Gas tax is a tax, where does the money go if not to preserve the roads? And the vehicle registration fees? Who is benefiting from those? Which streets are being maintained properly? Where are these funds going!?

Unfortunately, virtually no roads are being maintained properly. Gas tax revenue in Michigan has declined almost 12 percent in the last dacade. Vehicle registration fees have fallen 6 percent during the same time. Meanwhile, all the costs of maintaining roads have risen dramatically during the same decade. This comes on top of the fact that Michigan has been in the bottom nine states in the nation in per capita road funding since at least 1964. That means that we, as Michigan residents, are paying far less to maintain our roads than residents of most other states. And it shows. In other words, we are getting what we pay for when it comes to roads. This situation is going to get far worse. The Michigan Asset Management Council, which tracks road conditions and and funding and costs, predicts that unless we begin to invest more in our roads, by 2025 the percentage of Michigan's roads in poor condition will double from its current level of about 32 percent. This level, by the way, is about double what it was in 2004.

While your answer is informative, it didn't answer my question of which roads are being maintained with the funds received. What is difficult for me to understand is where this money is going to come from. This neighborhood is full of good, hard working people who, in some cases, are barely holding onto their homes. Trying to squeeze us for extra money to maintain roads we are already paying taxes and fees for isn't going to be the solution.

I've been reviewing the press release from last year which shows a portion of the proposed budget for 2012. Where on the website is the actual budget which breaks out the operating expenditures? I'd like to see where the dollars are being allocated. What percentage of the income is going to actual maintenance and what percentage is going to non-maintenance items.

All roads under our jurisdiction are being maintained, though, due to the funding crisis, none are being maintained at the desired level. However, safety and scarcity of resources dictate that we prioritize roads for maintenance purposes. Those roads with the most traffic, traveling at the highest speeds, must be at the top of the priority list. Consequently, subdivision streets, which carry the least traffic moving at the slowest speeds, must be at the bottom of the list. That doesn't mean they are ignored. It simply means we cannot devote as much resources to them as we do to busy primary roads.

The subdivision paving policy has been in place at the Road Commission for many decades, and every subdivison under our jurisdiction that has been repaved has been done so via the the special assessment process. This includes everything from highly affluent subs to much less leffluent subs.

Our budget for the current year and past years, as well as our projected three year budget for the future (known as the "Financial Plan") are all posted in the "Publications" section of our Web site (www.rcocweb.org), under the "Financial Documents" heading, as well as other documents like our audited financial report.

Please understand that we sympathize with your situation and share your frustration. Unfortunately, we simply do not have the resources to perform additional maintenance work anywhere.

For additional information about how we're funded, an explanation of Michigan's ongoing road-funding crisis and other related work, check out our "A Guide to Roads and Road Funding" publication (http://www.rcocweb.org/Lists/Publications/Attachments/26/HANDOUT%20-%20%202012-1.pdf).

- Road Commission for Oakland County