(Editor’s Note: This editorial was written and went to press before it was announced Aug. 2 that a tentative agreement had been reached to satisfy the concerns of Oakland and Macomb counties. On Aug. 4, the RTA Board of Directors voted to place its mass transit millage proposal on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.)

It doesn’t matter if the odds are against you or the situation is grim, it’s always important to stand up and do the right thing.

That’s what the governing bodies for Oxford and Addison townships, along with the villages of Oxford and Leonard, did when they each passed resolutions voicing their strong opposition to the proposed 20-year, 1.2-mill property tax to pay for the plans of the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) of Southeast Michigan.

We couldn’t be prouder of our township and village officials for making their feelings known in an effort to protect local taxpayers from being taken advantage of by this grandiose scheme to bilk them for the benefit of others.

They stood up for all of us in northern Oakland County who were going to be taken for a ride – pun intended – by this ill-conceived and inequitable $4.6 to $4.7 billion pie-in-the-sky plan to develop a four-county mass transit system.

They could have easily sat on their hands. They could have remained silent. They could have been cowards and hid behind some attorney’s opinion.

But they didn’t and we’re thankful for that. Our elected officials showed leadership and backbone on this issue.

Fortunately, it appears, at this point, the RTA millage isn’t going to make it on the Nov. 8 ballot thanks to the concerns and objections expressed by Oakland and Macomb counties. Their representatives on the RTA Board of Directors voted against placing the request before voters at a July 28 meeting.

Granted, the RTA board has until Aug. 16 to approve ballot language for the general election, but it doesn’t look very promising for the pro-mass transit crowd – and we couldn’t be happier about that.

The failed RTA board vote put the same type of smile on our faces as the sight of a burglar running away from a guard dog who has a shredded piece of pants clenched between his sharp teeth.

Make no mistake, the only thing “regional” about the RTA plan is its proposed funding source. It’s definitely designed to take money – an estimated $2.9 or $3.2 billion, depending on whose numbers you use – from the property owners in Oakland, Wayne, Macomb and Washtenaw counties over two decades.

But the RTA plan is most definitely not “regional” in the transportation it seeks to provide.

Absolutely none of the proposed services would extend to any of the townships, villages and cities in northern and western Oakland County. More than 500,000 county residents are excluded from the proposed RTA service area.

“It called for 40 of our communities to pay (a) 1.2-mill tax for 20 years – in exchange for nothing,” said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson in a press release last week.

“I won’t sacrifice 40 communities on the altar of regional cooperation,” Patterson noted in the release.

The only reason the RTA folks want places like Oxford and Addison included in the millage proposal is to get their grubby hands on our money.

The RTA’s main interests are Detroit, Wayne County and Ann Arbor. This whole plan is designed to funnel our cash to them. Regional, indeed.

We have our own millage-funded public transportation, the North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA), and we’re perfectly happy with it.

NOTA is local. It’s inexpensive. It’s efficient. It’s frugal. It serves our area and only our area. That’s good enough for us.

Right now, the RTA plan appears to be DOA. But if not, we’re prepared to line up with local officials and taxpayers to fight it to the bitter end.

Mass transit advocates are fond of pointing out that the current RTA plan is the 27th attempt in 50 years worth of failures to create a regional system.

We sincerely hope this 27th attempt – currently on life support – is another flop because it’s a raw deal for the hard-working taxpayers around here who would get bupkis for their buck.

To paraphrase a popular slogan during America’s struggle for independence, no taxation without transportation.