TRENTON — Democrats on Thursday told the Christie administration that because the governor has canceled the Hudson River rail tunnel, he should not get to keep toll revenue intended to pay for it. In a party-line vote, Democrats on the Senate Transportation Committee approved a bill directing the Turnpike Authority to roll back $1.25 billion in toll increases intended...
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A New Jersey Turnpike toll collector talks to a motorist in this Star-Ledger file photo.TRENTON — Democrats on Thursday told the Christie administration that because the governor has canceled the Hudson River rail tunnel, he should not get to keep toll revenue intended to pay for it.
In a party-line vote, Democrats on the Senate Transportation Committee approved a bill directing the Turnpike Authority to roll back $1.25 billion in toll increases intended to pay for the tunnel, called Access to the Region’s Core.
"Once we say money is going somewhere, that’s where it should go," said Senate Transportation Chairman Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson), the bill’s sponsor. "If not, every time we do something in the state and we earmark it, people will have no faith in what we’re going to do."
The two-phase increase, which began in 2008 and is set to occur again in 2012, was to pay for transportation projects, including the tunnel. But last year, citing billions of dollars in potential cost overruns, Gov. Chris Christie killed the project and now wants to use the money to help shore up the state’s nearly-broke Transportation Trust Fund.
Under the bill, only the portion of the toll increase earmarked for the tunnel — about 15 percent — would be rolled back.
PARTISAN PULLBACK
Democrats did not offer an alternative plan for the $1.25 billion, but said the Turnpike Authority should at least have a public hearing if it wants to raise tolls. Republicans complained that Democrats did not come up with other solutions.
"The rhetoric that we hear today is ‘let’s study it,’ " said state Sen. Andrew Ciesla (R-Ocean).
"Maybe after 20 years I’m a little jaded, but study is code word for ‘delay because I don’t have an alternative.’ "
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the Democrats’ motivations were "transparent as cellophane."
"It’s partisan point-scoring, while offering nothing remotely constructive or realistic to address serious funding and budgeting issues," he said.
Drewniak also said that the Turnpike Authority reserved the right to dedicate the funds to other projects and that it had already sold bonds assuming the revenue would be there.
"You cannot simply roll them back," he said.
To become law, the bill would have to pass both houses of the Legislature and be signed by the governor — an unlikely prospect. To overturn a veto, Senate and Assembly leaders would each have to muster a two-thirds majority.
Previous coverage:
• N.J. Senate panel approves bill to roll back future Turnpike, Parkway toll increases
• N.J. Democrats to ask for planned toll hikes on N.J. Turnpike, Garden State Parkway to be canceled
• Paul Mulshine: Highway fight could take a toll on Christie
• Senate Democrats propose measure to roll back toll increases intended to fund trans-Hudson tunnel
• Editorial: Idea to cut tolls is pure politics
• Port Authority budget leaves tolls untouched, offers no plan for canceled ARC tunnel funds