2025 State of the County

• Wayne County Executive Warren Evans announced that parts of Wayne County would get a cash aid program.
• He touted other efforts to aid children, families and seniors and cited the accomplishments of his administration over the past year in his yearly address.

Wayne County Executive Warren Evans announced Wednesday that a restriction-free, cash aid program for expectant mothers and babies is coming to Wayne County.

The two-year effort, called Rx Kids, would offer $1,500 to pregnant mothers during pregnancy and another $500 a month for the first six months after birth. Rx Kids is already operating in Flint, Kalamazoo and the Eastern Upper Peninsula.

It was among the initiatives touted by Evans to curb childhood poverty, aid families and “keep Wayne County healthy.” Another aims to ensure seniors and schoolchildren get access to fresh fruit and vegetables and a nonprofit partnership will offer students access to on-the-spot eye exams and prescription eyeglasses.

"Too often, in speeches, there’s a lot of talk about a vision for the future. That’s fine, I guess, as long as that forecast is based in reality," Evans told a packed crowd at Woodhaven High School in Brownstown Township during his 10th State of the County address. "In other words, don’t promise what you can’t deliver. In our case, there’s plenty of good news, not only about what we’ve accomplished, but about what’s coming."

Here are some key takeaways from Evan's 2025 speech:

“The program, launched first in Flint, is making a real dent in child poverty,” he said. “The same thing can happen for us here in Wayne County.”

The program would start in the next couple months, Evans told reporters after his speech.

"I think the (Wayne County) Commission is at its final approval. It's why it took this long and so we should be starting very soon. I'm really optimistic about what it will do. I think there's skeptics around that think just the dispensation of the money is problematic. I'm not one of those," he said.

Evans, in his speech, said the program would expand “to several Downriver communities," and later clarified that it wouldn’t just be restricted to that area.

"Pending Commission approval, targeted launch areas for Rx Kids will include River Rouge, Inkster, Highland Park, Melvindale, and other high-need Wayne County communities, based on economic challenges and health disparities," said Kennyle Johnson, interim director of Wayne County's department of health, human and veterans services in a statement Thursday morning.

The program won't be available across Wayne County, however, because of limited resources, Evans told reporters Wednesday. Detroit would not be included in the program, he said.

Rx Kids, which began in Flint more than a year ago, recently kicked off in Kalamazoo and five counties in the eastern U.P. The program is also expected to launch in Pontiac this May.

Erasing medical debt

Evans also pointed to an effort under the banner of the county’s “Well Wayne 2025” plan that is bringing relief to residents who he said for too long have had to choose between the need for adequate healthcare and the burden of medical debt.

Roughly 300,000 residents across Wayne County have unaffordable medical debt, he said, ranking the county eighth among all counties in the nation. Last year, the county collaborated with the national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to wipe out $27 million in debt for 46,000 county residents.

"Tonight, I’m happy to announce that since then, we’ve helped an additional 24,000 residents, wiping out an additional $13 million dollars in medical debt. That’s 70,000 residents and $40 million dollars already. Our goal is to erase it all, and we have certified the funds to do it," he said.

Transit on the ballot

Evans emphasized the importance of transit for residents who can't afford a car and to attract young professionals and families to the region.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill earlier this year ensuring that Wayne County communities could no longer opt out of the transit millage funding the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), the bus system for southeast Michigan. This opens the door for a countywide transit proposal on the ballot, Evans said.

"This is a defining moment," Evans said. "The voters will have the final say in 2026, and this administration will be doing everything we can to keep people in a position to understand why this is so important. I believe this is the first time, probably in Wayne County's history, that every community — regardless of size — will have a seat at the table to offer input as we create a transit plan.”

Long awaited Woodhaven road project to break ground

Evans also used the speech to cite the accomplishments of his administration over the past year, including preparing the county for weather-related emergencies, handling hazardous waste coming from out of state and construction projects.

There'd be "shovels in the ground next week," he said, for the Allen Road Grade Separation Project, an effort to ease traffic delays from a rail crossing on Allen Road in the city of Woodhaven. The project will lower the road, which will be dedicated to vehicles, and build a bridge above the road for the train.

That was welcome news for Republican state Rep. Jamie Thompson, of Brownstown, whose district includes Woodhaven. The train affects her daily, she said. She was excited to hear about the groundbreaking and said she would hold officials to it.

"What ends up happening in this area is, if you get stopped by any of those trains, any four of them, you're stuck for 45 minutes. You have no way around, because no matter which way you go, there's another train. So, it's been a huge issue for a very long time," she said.

She said she appreciated that Evans delivered his annual address Downriver because the community often “gets lost in the shuffle” and doesn't get as much attention as other major cities, she said.

Wayne County, made up of 43 cities and townships, is home to nearly 1.8 million people, according to 2020 Census estimates. The county saw a population increase of about 9,000 in the last year, Evans said. That's the first time since 2018 that Wayne County added residents, the Free Press reported last month.

Detroit Free Press staff writer Clara Hendrickson contributed to this report.

Brownstown Township — Wayne County Executive Warren Evans highlighted the county's growing population and said expanding mass transit in the region will take collaboration but he's committed to making it a reality during his State of the County address Wednesday.

Speaking to a packed auditorium Wednesday night at Woodhaven High School in Brownstown Township, Evans, who took office in 2015, highlighted the county's improved financial position over the last decade, along with infrastructure improvements, health initiatives, reduced crime rates and a growing population.

Wayne County's population has grown by 9,000 people in the last few years, according to Evans, which he said reflects a promising trend and mirrors Detroit's population growth. Detroit gained more than 1,800 people between July 2022 and July 2023, according to the U.S. Census data, reversing a decades-long trend of population loss in the city.

"What that's telling us is people aren't running from Detroit to the out counties, or vice versa. We're all growing," he said.

Evans also touted 10 years in a row of balanced budgets, a turnaround from Wayne County's precarious financial position when he took the helm as chief executive. He said the county was headed toward bankruptcy, a situation he was determined to avoid.

The bounce-back in the county's credit rating means lower interest for financing projects and more security for county employees and retirees because of increased pension payments and lower unfunded healthcare obligations, he said.

The Wayne County Commission approved a $2.23 billion budget last fall for the county's current fiscal year, including $25 million in raises for rank-and-file county employees, funding to contract with small businesses and nonprofits, and money for extra staffing in the county's new criminal justice complex.

"There is a key aspect to this budget; we're not just balancing the numbers, we're investing in our people," Evans said.

Expanding transit

Evans signaled his support for a new Michigan law that eliminated an "opt-out" provision for communities in Wayne and Oakland Counties from participating in and voting on transit millages.

Seventeen of Wayne County's 43 communities currently opt out of the SMART bus system. But the new law closes that loophole the next time the county's transit millage comes up for a vote. Currently, the property tax supporting SMART is about 1 mill and will come up for a countywide renewal vote in November 2026.

Evans said collaboration between all of Wayne County's communities will be key to creating a transit plan, adding "real solutions aren't one size fits all." Access to transit plays a significant role in where young people are willing to live, he added, which is particularly important for communities that have aging populations.

"This isn't just about convenience. It's about access, opportunity and improving lives for residents who can't afford a car or are unable to drive a car; or who simply don't want a car," he said.

State Rep. Jamie Thompson, a Republican who lives in Brownstown Township and represents the 20th District, said she was grateful Evans chose to give his address in her community. She said she believes he may have picked Downriver because cities in the area have been more skeptical of the new legislation prohibiting Wayne County communities from opting out of countywide transit programs.

"Sometimes Downriver does feel like it gets lost in the shuffle, and other major cities in Wayne County get a little more attention than we do. So it means a lot for the Downriver community to have this State of the County here at Woodhaven," she said.

Looking to the future

The county plans to unveil health-focused initiatives by the end of the year, Evans said. One will involve a partnership with Eastern Market to deliver fruits and vegetables to schools and senior households in the county, called the Fresh Foods program. And he also said the county also is working to create "resilience hubs" to combat climate change.

The county also plans to expand for two years a program called RxKids, developed by faculty from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, which offers pregnant mothers $1,500 in support of their pregnancy and $500 each month for the first six months of their babies' lives. Evans said the program has made a difference in child poverty in Flint.

"People usually use it for the right reason. They really do," Evans said.

Decrease in crime

Evans also highlighted infrastructure improvements and lower crimes rates. He said the county spent more than $26 million for bridge repair and replacement in Westland, Lincoln Park, Ecorse, Inkster and Detroit in 2024.

"The total amount we spent for infrastructure upgrades in Wayne County was just over $63 million dollars," he said.

He also highlighted a decrease in homicides in Detroit recorded by the city in 2024, which he said was the city's first in more than 50 years, and echoes a decrease in crime across Wayne County. He attributed success to the county's Violent Crime Reduction Initiative started in 2019, a collaboration of policymakers in the criminal legal system.

"As a former sheriff and police chief, I can tell you that these results don't just happen. It takes leadership and it takes collaboration," Evans said.