Legislative Republicans Decry Toll Proposals

HARTFORD, CT — General Assembly Republicans came out in force against two toll proposals Tuesday as they encouraged residents to think of it more like a mileage tax.

“This is a mileage tax,” said Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano. “Frankly I don’t believe will work, it’s going in the wrong direction.”

There are currently a couple of bills that could establish tolls in Connecticut. One bill would establish a Connecticut Transportation Authority, which would oversee transportation projects.

Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed bill would have toll locations on I-84, I-91, I-95 and parts of Route 15. During his campaign he said he would only support tolls on heavy trucks, but he has since offered a proposal to toll all vehicles, saying that truck tolls wouldn’t bring in enough revenue.

House Bill 7280 would set a timeline to have an informational hearing regarding a toll proposal. It would then call for a General Assembly vote 15 days after the hearing. If both the House and Senate don’t call the vote then the measure would automatically pass. The bill is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday.

Fasano said he had concerns with the 7280 bill because the speaker of the house and president of the senate can call bills for a vote or not, which could lead to tolls becoming law without a clear vote.

Gov. Ned Lamont’s out-of-state driver toll projections are overly optimistic, Fasano said.

A study by CDM Smith projected that 40 percent of revenue from tolls would come from out-of-state drivers. Fasano questioned whether that would include out-of-state drivers who purchase Connecticut transponders in order to get the in-state discount. Around 14.3 percent of transponders sold in Massachusetts go to out-of-state residents, Fasano said.

Tolls for only certain lanes on highways is something Fasano said he would be willing to talk about. They would only toll for “fast pass” lanes which would have less congestion.

Republicans have pitched their “Prioritize Progress” plan as toll alternative. The plan calls for prioritizing General Obligation bonds for transportation use while capping state bonding at $2 billion.

Lamont has said he wants to put Connecticut on a “debt diet” by reducing annual borrowing to $960 million annually. The state averaged $1.59 billion worth of borrowing between 2012 and 2019, Lamont said.

There is a great deal of confusion about toll proposals, said State Rep. Laura Devlin (R-Trumbull).

“Quite honestly what we hear when people hear the truth is outrage,” she said.

She also urged people not to get distracted by the number of toll gantries and to realize that the ultimate goal of toll proposals is to raise $1 billion in revenue. She also noted that toll prices rarely go down over time and often increase.

“Any way you cut it make no mistake that’s a tax on Connecticut residents,” she said.

House Republican Leader Themis Klarides said Massachusetts is about twice as big size and population wise as Connecticut, but they have far fewer tolls.

Massachusetts has 13 tolling locations on the Massachusetts Turnpike along with four tunnel and bridge tolls. Lamont’s proposal would put tolls on all of I-95, I-91, I-84 and parts of Route 15.

“It is a fallacy that tolls are the only way to fund transportation in the state of Connecticut,” Klarides said.

The CDM Smith study proposed an effective 3.5-cents per mile tolling rate, which would be cheaper than the New York Thruway, Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike. It included toll roads beyond I-95, I-91, I-84 and parts of Route 15.