Tolls In Connecticut: It Just Won't Go Away

Just when you thought it was safe to drive on Connecticut highways The measure is aimed at raising revenue to fund road repairs and infrastructure projects. On June 1st, HB 6200 (the toll bill)  passed the Connecticut House of Representatives and was sent over to the Senate where it awaits passage. 

This issue first emerged two years ago, was met with considerable opposition, and died on the vine. This year, with no federal stimulus money to shufffle the budgetary deck, they may roll.

UPON WHOM THE TOLLS FALL - Fairfield County Business Journal - April 6, 2009

In his metaphysical work, For Whom the Bell Tolls, the English poet, John Donne, wrote, “no man is an island…every man is… a part of the main.” Such is true in life and in politics.

Too often, officials in Hartford ignore Donne’s admonition and enact measures that supposedly will benefit the state treasury, i.e. the main, that fail to consider the impact those decisions will have throughout other “parts” of Connecticut.

Recently, a report was released, commissioned by the Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board (TSB), analyzing whether the reinstatement of tolls on Connecticut roads is viable public policy to enhance state revenues and provide an additional funding source for roads, bridges and highway improvements. The report is voluminous. It contains terms like, “congestion pricing” and “HOT Lanes.” However, like most government studies, besides being voluminous, the report’s facts, figures and analysis lacks the common sense that should be the starting point- rather than the afterthought- of public policy initiatives, i.e., what will the overall impact be on the residents of Connecticut?

First, tolls would disproportionately affect residents of Fairfield County, especially those that reside in border towns like Stamford and Danbury. Danbury is an engine for retail sales- over $4 billion dollars in 2007, according to the Department of Revenue Services. New Yorkers regularly flow over the border to shop at the Danbury Fair Mall and surrounding towns. The reinstitution of tolls would discourage commuters from northern Westchester and Putnam counties from shopping in Greater Danbury. Any sales tax advantage we have over New York could be lost and any gain in revenue from tolls will be offset, perhaps significantly, by a diminution in sales taxes.

Furthermore, the more creative, i.e., those familiar with local bypass roads, will alter their commutes to avoid paying the tolls, through Brewster to Mill Plain Road and across Route 35 in Ridgefield, creating new traffic congestion and infrastructure issues on roads that are already over capacity. Perhaps a new study will be commissioned: The Creation of Checkpoint Charlie’s in Western Connecticut.

The loss of sales taxes and road congestion is only the tip of the iceberg. Danbury area commuters will literally be punished for working in places like New York State. What about the cost of rebuilding, constructing and operating the tolls, including personnel, salaries, benefits, etc.? There are safety concerns as well (a tractor-trailer accident on I-95 was one of the impetuses for removing tolls in the first place).

In addition, federal implications arise with the reinstitution of tolls in Connecticut, including issues regarding the eligibility for federal highway funding, exceptions to the types of tolls that are allowed, and a myriad of others rules and regulations dating back to when the tolls were removed in the 1980s. Talk about metaphysical!

More subtly here, is a disturbing issue that goes to the heart of the taxpayers’ distrust and anger at government. The reintroduction of tolls, like many measures that Hartford (and Washington for that matter) considers- raising the corporate tax, increases in “sin” taxes, and the elimination of certain deductions- all evince a cynical and arrogant attitude of government towards its citizens:

“Individuals aren’t going to pack up their families and leave Connecticut just because they gave to pay a toll to commute?”

“People will come shop here anyway. Where are they going to go?”

Make no mistake about it, Hartford’s toll proposal will have a deleterious effect on the Greater Danbury area in terms of the economy, roads and quality of life (by the way, there are no tolls proposed on I-91 between New Haven and Hartford). Contact your State Representatives, State Senators, the Governor, the TSB and anyone else whose fingerprints might be on this initiative and tell them “No” to the reinstatement of tolls. To paraphrase John Donne, there is no need to ask upon whom the tolls fall? Clearly, they will fall on thee- and, with a thud.