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Get control of Thruway toll hikes Despite protests from the governor, the state comptroller, lawmakers from every corner of New York, and throngs of ordinary citizens, New York Thruway tolls are going up. Again.
That word is key because a string of increases approved by Thruway Authority board members has put a critical spotlight on the quasi-independent agency at the helm of the longest toll road in the United States, and on a battle brewing over finances and its management structure.
Lawmakers have called for the firing of board members, or the disbanding of the authority and a transfer of its duties to state agencies that answer directly to the Legislature.
Board members, for their part, say lawmakers haven't done enough to remove unnecessary financial burdens from their jurisdiction and that they have done all they can to keep costs down and keep the road in good repair.
While executive branch appointees to the Thruway board need legislative approval, actions such as toll hikes do not. Lawmakers must begin weighing the following ideas to prevent a scenario like the one that's developed — continuous fee increases and intense disagreement over whether the hikes are justified, the result of bad money management, or both:
* Ongoing, mandated scrutiny of the Thruway Authority's finances by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and the Legislature. DiNapoli, at the request of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, began auditing the authority several months ago and has criticized authority officials for underestimating federal aid and for not collecting $27 million in unpaid tolls.
As DiNapoli and board members have already suggested, removing non-highway-related expenses from the Thruway Authority's jurisdiction would return it to its mission of only oversight of the board. The agency now oversees the state's 524-mile, $80 million-per-year canal system and some downstate roads and bridges.
* A dismantling of the authority's structure, as has been proposed in legislation, to give lawmakers direct say over toll hikes and other financial matters, or a reduction of term limits to four years to allow more turnover.
The latest Thruway Authority vote, on April 25, means cash tolls on the 641-mile Thruway will go up 5 percent in 2009, another 5 percent in 2010. EZPass discounts will be cut starting this July. This follows a 10 percent toll increase earlier this year.
According to authority officials, the hikes approved recently will raise another $375 million during the next three years for repairs and maintenance of the highway.
Authority board members have said they're hindered by increasing costs of repairs, and the costs imposed by the state that fall outside the bounds of the Thruway since the mid-1990s, such as the canal system. A legislative plan to remove this oversight from the agency wasn't included in the recent budget passed by the Legislature.
The Thruway Authority, for its part, should continue looking at DiNapoli's recent recommendations and putting them in place.
Disbanding the authority would be drastic. But lawmakers must carefully weigh this and other options. Though they don't have a say over tolls now, to do anything less than seek alternatives is putting a stamp of approval on more fee hikes for Thruway drivers.
— The Poughkeepsie Journal
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