The best thing that could happen to Michigan would be Brooks as governor – unfortunately I’ve lost hope that will ever happen.

And, while the housing values were high (emphasize on “were”), overall taxable values decreased in Oakland County last year in 2008 and will decrease again in 2009.

As for being wrong on my assessment that Oakland County’s wealthy citizens help to bring in more tax revenues, again I stand by that claim. Even though the property values are falling there just like every other county, the richest people also have most expensive houses! So then that means that county enjoys a higher taxation income as well. Does not really take a rocket scientist to understand that equation now does it?

If you believe what that this writer had to say back on 8/22/08, you will hear that even wealthy Oakland County is not going to continue to be “sitting pretty” with all their budgeting magic:
“Oakland County had more than 14,000 home foreclosure and foreclosure filings (homes on which banks have begun, but not completed, the foreclosure process). Deputy Oakland County Executive Bob Daddow said in January that declines in home values are expected to cost Oakland County government $5.7 million in 2008, $6.8 million in 2009 and $13.3 million in 2010 – a gap that will need to be made up either by shrinking services or higher taxes.”
From: http://michiganmessenger.com/2772/michigans-battleground-zero

The State of Michigan’s budget in 2008 was $43 Billion (with a “B”, not million).

You are wrong about translating Oakland County’s “wealth” into meaning that the County can spend that “wealth”. The “wealth” that you refer to is per capita income – the County does not have an income tax, so that does not translate directly into tax revenue. The largest part of Oakland County’s discretionary General Fund budget come from property tax, and in fact, guess what – property values are falling. So, yes, Oakland County has been cutting its budget – check your facts and you’ll see that the County started its budget cutting back in 2002 and has been doing so each and every year since then. The difference is that the County does multi-year budgeting, plans ahead, and started cutting earlier than everyone else. You just don’t notice it because since the county started earlier, it hasn’t disrupted citizen services as has happened in other communities, simply because those other communities ignored reality and waited until it was too late.

In FY2008, the State of Michigan budget was set at $43 million.

Hummm, does anyone still wonder why the State of Michigan had a big budget crisis last year?

That’s like comparing a childless person who earns an annual income well above triple digit figures with being able to spend and stay within their means while then comparing them to a another person, with lots of children, who is earning minimum wage while being able to spend and stay within their means. That is totally not a fair analogy!

And while staying within budget at any income level is smart and good, not everyone can do so if the incoming monies cannot possibly take care of all their needs. That is what all those other counties you wrote about are trying to do, as well as the unfortunate reality our own Governor Granholm has to contend with here in Michigan.

Let’s get real!