CT Toll Showdown Begins: Here Are The New Details

HARTFORD, CT — Hundreds of people made their way to the state capitol Wednesday to make their case for or against electronic tolling in Connecticut. Tolling is sure to be one of the most contentious issue of the 2019 legislative session.

Gov. Ned Lamont seems to be fully ditching his original campaign call for only heavy-truck tolling and said that the revenue needed to get Connecticut moving again needs to come from tolling of all vehicles. He also pitched public-private partnerships for transportation projects similar to the one that led to the new Tappan Zee Bridge project coming in $1.1 billion under budget and 18 months ahead of schedule.

“Look nobody likes raising revenues for whatever noble purpose it is, but this is the best investment this state can make,” he said, noting that the state hasn’t added net new jobs in a generation.

Other states like Ohio and Michigan are looking to raise their gas taxes to help fund infrastructure improvements, but that isn’t feasible in a state that can easily be driven through without filling up the gas tank, Lamont said.

He also said plans that call for more transportation bonding are the exact wrong thing to do that got Connecticut into the mess it is in today.

“I hate to say but we got to pay our bills and we haven’t done that in this state,” Lamont said. “We’ve been putting everything on the credit card.”

Senate President Martin Looney made a more dire pitch for tolls by calling the state of Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure a state emergency and urged legislators to pass tolling before another disaster like the Mianus River Bridge collapse in 1983.

“Anyone who is not committed to tolls in 2019 is not committed to dealing with our infrastructure problem,” he said.

House Speaker Joseph Aresimowicz said that he constantly asks his constituents what would keep their children in Connecticut when they grow up.

“Give them a reason to be here, he said. “Give them jobs... they don’t want to sit in cars.”

He added that while other states were improving infrastructure Connecticut sat still, which had led the state to falling behind in attracting new residents.

Republican Senate Leader Len Fasano criticized the tolling plan and said it offers too much uncertainty.

“In 2023 under their plan the [Special Transportation Fund] is done, it’s bankrupt,” he said, adding that by that time the Republican plan will have added billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

He estimated that it would take at least five years after a toll bill was approved before the ball got rolling due to planning and state and federal regulations.

The Republican plan calls for keeping bonding at the current limit of about $2 billion annually and prioritizing transportation projects while getting rid of unnecessary projects.

He also said tolls would just become another Connecticut “revenue monster” where funds that would’ve gone into the Special Transportation Fund like a portion of the sales tax will instead go to the General Fund and be replaced by higher toll costs.

He also said it would be good to ask Looney if he was committed to Gov. Ned Lamont’s “debt diet” plan that calls for limiting annual bonding to $960 million.