- Wayne County has cleared $46,000 in medical debt for over 47,000 residents through allocated funds to reduce stress and improve the quality of life for residents.
- Regional transit remains a top priority for Wayne County Executive, Warren Evans. Recent legislation eliminates opt-outs for transit in 43 communities, a crucial step toward comprehensive transportation systems.
- Evans highlighted the need for better alignment between local education systems and workforce requirements, specifically in sectors such as aviation.
A Conversation With Warren Evans
January 23, 2025
Key Takeaways
View the full session recording below.
During the 2025 Detroit Policy Conference, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans discussed key regional challenges and opportunities for the county, highlighting topics such as fiscal stability, regional transit, and education. Since the county’s bankruptcy recovery, Wayne County leadership has focused on maintaining financial discipline while pursuing innovative solutions to community issues.
Wayne County Thriving Through Fiscal Responsibility
Warren credited having a fiscal responsibility strategy for the county’s success. Following the county’s bankruptcy recovery, its leadership has focused on financial discipline and innovative solutions for community issues.
“We went from managing bankruptcy to achieving a triple-A bond rating,” Evans said.
Transit in Wayne County
HB 6088 will allow Wayne County to exceed its millage cap and put a county-wide transit millage on the ballot to have SMART services in all its localities, similar to Macomb and Oakland Counties. This legislation now awaits the Governor’s signature.
“Transit is one of the big issues we need to address,” Evans said. “Quite frankly, the health of some of our communities is going to be based on transit, whether they understand it or not, because these communities are aging out.”
Medical Debt Erasure and/or Budget Surplus
Evans also spoke about Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human, and Veteran Services eliminating $27 million in outstanding medical debt for more than 46,000 county residents in December 2024.
The debt was sourced from a local hospital, which wishes to remain anonymous, but is committed to community benefit and making health care accessible.
Undue Medical Debt is a national, 501(c)(3) nonprofit which acquires medical debts belonging to those least able to pay in large, bundled portfolios for pennies or less on the dollar. Qualifying patients live in Wayne County and are four times (400%) or below the federal poverty level or have medical debt that equals 5% or more of their annual income. Medical debt relief is source-based, meaning the nonprofit can only acquire qualifying medical debts from providers who agree to be partners, such as hospitals and physicians’ groups, along with debt buyers and collection agencies.
“We used surplus funds, not regular budget money, to eliminate medical debt for Wayne County residents,” Evans said. “At this point, we’ve erased significant medical debt for about 47,000 people.”