Even the most ardent proponents of Sakonnet tolls can no longer hide the true reason for imposing them: RI Turnpike and Bridge Authority is in dire financial straits, and is looking at users of the Sakonnet River Bridge as a "revenue stream" (in the words of RITBA Executive Director Buddy Croft in the article linked below) to bail this quasi-public agency out of a financial crisis having nothing to do with the Sakonnet River Bridge. It's as simple, and unfair, as that.
It's crucial that all Rhode Islanders understand the facts. The tolls won't pay for the bridge construction; that was done by a bond RI taxpayers are paying off. More than 90% of the funds raised by Sakonnet tolls will not go to maintaining this new bridge. The funds will go to fill a $200 million gap in RITBA's finances over the next decade, a crisis not due to Sakonnet River Bridge maintenance, which will be minimal for this new structure.
The fact that RITBA is facing a $200 million shortfall should be all the information legislators need to see the irresponsibility of funnelling more taxpayer funds into this unsustainable system, especially with all the economic damage a Sakonnet toll will cause. The issue facing each legislator (and candidate for State office) is whether he/she will support the residents and businesses of the East Bay, or come down in support of a destructive toll that amounts to a $200 million taxpayer bailout of a quasi-public agency.
Anyone supporting Sakonnet tolls needs to explain why East Bay residents and businesses will be the only ones in the State forced to be a "revenue stream" to subsidize bridge maintenance and the operations of a quasi-public agency. The only responsible course is to create a statewide, non-toll system to fund bridge maintenance, and hopefully that will be the outcome of this Legislative Commission.
http://www.eastbayri.com/news/east-bay-pols-residents-once-again-question-need-for-tolls-on-sakonnet-river-bridge/
Brian Medeiros
Tiverton, RI
No comments:
Post a Comment