CT Lawmakers Make 2016 Decision on Tolls Vote

This story was updated to add comments from state Sen. Toni Boucher, Senate Ranking Member of the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee.

The state legislature will not hold a vote until 2017, at the earliest, on whether to reinstall tolls on Connecticut thruways, according to Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney of New Haven.

The Hartford Courant reports that Looney made the announcement Thursday while discussing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s $100 billion plan to improve the state’s infrastructure.

To generate the funding for the project, Malloy proposes bringing back tolls, increasing the state’s gasoline tax, which already is one of the highest in the nation, and increasing the state sales tax, among other initiatives, reports the Connecticut Mirror.

Tolls have been absent from state thruways since the late 1980s, and the proposal to reinstall them already has been met with resistance from some in the legislature. In the spring of 2015, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer lent his voice in opposition to tolls being installed in Greenwich near the state line. See video below.

“Certainly, I don’t foresee tolls being adopted in the immediate future,’’ Looney told the Courant. “There has to be adoption of the lockbox first before there is any discussion of any additional transportation revenues.’’

The “lockbox” would keep all money set aside for transportation from being raided for other uses. Such a move would require a vote on a state Constitutional amendment, which Looney said he does not anticipate happening until the fall of 2016.

Republican state Sen. Toni Boucher blasted Malloy and Democrats over the tolls and tax increase proposals.

“They want a gas tax hike, a sales tax hike, and higher fees. And they want tolls in Connecticut. How predictable,” said Boucher in a statement. “Taxing the public is always the first place they look. We’ve endured the two highest tax hikes in state history in the past five years. Again and again, taxpayers in Connecticut are asked to dig deeper and deeper into their pockets. When does it end?

“No wonder we are losing jobs and people to more financially attractive states. We saw a prime and painful example of that this week with General Electric.

“A whopping 80 percent of Connecticut residents oppose tolls. Republicans put forth a transportation improvement plan that does not raise taxes, does not include tolls, sets priorities, and fixes what we already have in place.

“I certainly hope the overtaxed public can see why Hartford Democrats are refusing to take a vote on these extremely regressive taxes and tolls until after the November elections. Make no mistake: your taxes will most certainly be hiked next year and tolls will be installed on state highways if Hartford Democrats get their way.”

Patch file photo

What do you think? Should Connecticut reinstall tolls along its thruways? Let us know in the comment section below.