A 'Reduction in an Increase' – but Still a Hike
Posted October 10, 2008

Perhaps we’ll soon be able to stop talking about toll hikes in New Jersey, but unfortunately, it’s likely the discussion will end on an expensive note for New Jersey drivers.

This morning, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) is scheduled to present its revised toll plan at a public hearing at the NJTA’s Woodbridge headquarters. But we already received a glimpse of the proposal in a letter sent to Governor Corzine by New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri in which Kolluri “recommend[s] that the Authority reduce the proposed toll increase, offer new discounts to motorists, cut its operating budget and scale back its capital program.”

Specifically, the proposal, as highlighted in the letter, covers four areas: a revised toll schedule, driver discounts, operating budget cuts, and a capital plan. But before motorists get too hopeful, average tolls would still go up – more than doubling, in fact. Turnpike drivers, who now pay $1.20 for the average 23-mile trip, would see their fare rise to $2.60 in 2012. Of course, the hike comes in increments. So, the cost would first rise by $.50 this year and then by another $.90 in 2012.

Similarly, Parkway drivers who now pay $.35 would pay an additional $.15 this year and another $.25 in 2012, for a grand total of $.75. And the occasional ramp tolls that appear along the Parkway? They’re not left out either but would increase by $.10 this year and another $.05 in 2012.

Truckers also would see a hike, with tolls for the average Turnpike truck trip rising by $2.05 this year and $3.75 in 2012 and the cost of the average Parkway trip increasing by $.60 this year and $.95 in 2012.

So where’s the good news? Well, if you can call it that, amid the hikes, the NJTA also proposes discounts for senior citizen E-ZPass drivers and off-peak E-ZPass truck drivers, as well as off-peak Green-Pass discounts for drivers of fuel-efficient vehicles. Kolluri also recommends keeping the 25% off-peak E-ZPass discount currently on the books (as one would hope he would).

All in all, the discounts would cost the NJTA $12.8 million per year (a whopping 2.6% of its $481 million operating budget). Kolluri notes that $242 million of the $481 million is “mandatory expenditures like health care, pension benefits, State Police, and E-ZPass. In other words, the discretionary portion of the operating budget is $239 million.” Of this discretionary portion, he recommends eliminating $13.8 million through means including immediately cutting 30 positions and cutting, through attrition, an additional 200 positions over the next four years.

When it comes to the NJTA’s 10-year capital plan, spending in the revised proposal goes from $9.7 billion to $7 billion, with the $1.25 billion for the Hudson River rail tunnel remaining intact.

Commissioner Kolluri closes his letter by writing, “The Turnpike Authority has a fiduciary obligation to act affirmatively to meet its debt service obligations and fund critical safety and congestion relief projects…. I hope that you [Governor Corzine] agree that this revised proposal achieves your objectives by meeting the Authority’s essential transportation needs at the least possible cost to the public.”

The NJTA is expected to vote today on the proposal, and while the Authority may, indeed, have a “fiduciary obligation” to carry out its responsibilities, our governor and state legislature have an equally if not more binding responsibility to exercise wisdom, honesty, and restraint in spending taxpayer dollars. Years of Trenton’s waste and mismanagement have placed New Jersey in a hole of debt bigger than most could have imagined possible just a few years ago. And once again we argue that looking to the state’s already-overburdened taxpayers to foot the bill is irresponsible, unethical, and simply wrong.

With New Jerseyans already overburdened by out-of-control property taxes, no toll hike is a good toll hike, and before even considering burdening the people with additional taxes and fees, Trenton should excise every last unnecessary penny from state spending.

Anything less is unacceptable.

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