Keith M. Phaneuf
Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to toll all vehicles would dramatically infuse Connecticut’s aging, overcrowded transportation infrastructure with new cash — three or four years from now.
But Lamont’s recently announced “debt diet” would immediately cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in potential borrowing for transportation — to help solve larger problems in Connecticut’s finances.
So as he urges support for tolls on Connecticut’s highways, the governor also must convince people he will keep the state’s cash-starved transportation rebuilding program afloat.
“I think scaling back right now would be catastrophic,” said Donald Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industry Association.
Shubert’s group praised Lamont for his decision Saturday to propose tolls on all vehicles, which could raise $800 million to $1 billion annually for transportation. It is anticipated about 40 percent of those proceeds would come from out-of-state motorists.
The governor received similar accolades from construction unions.
But David Roche, president of the Connecticut State Building Trades Council, agreed with Shubert that the state can’t afford to backtrack — even for a few years — on maintaining an aging, overcrowded transportation network.
“I really don’t believe we can have less money going into transportation,” even for a few years, Roche said, adding that residents who are wary of tolls may not fully understand how worn down Connecticut’s infrastructure is. “They really don’t understand how bad the bridges are,” he said. “They are a mess. It’s a safety issue to me right now.”A 2017 report by the American Road and Builders Association warned that 33.5 percent of Connecticut’s bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. It also said that 57 percent of roads eligible for federal aid are rated “not acceptable,” which is the second-highest percentage among all states.
Former state Transportation Commissioner Emil Frankel, who served under Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. from 1991 until 1995 — and who now works as a transportation consultant — also applauded Lamont’s position on tolls.
But in a joint statement with Shubert, Frankel wrote that “in the meantime, as Connecticut works toward developing long-term solutions, it is essential that adequate revenues continue to flow into the Special Transportation Fund to support the operating costs and bonding levels required to maintain the currently programmed projects, systems and services.”
Though he pledged on the campaign trail last fall only to recommend tolling on trucks, Lamont reversed himself Saturday, saying it would be highly unlikely Connecticut could do this and afford the transportation upgrades needed to support long-term economic growth.
“Beyond an inconvenience, the crushing congestion we experience on I-95, I-91, I-84 and the Merritt Parkway, in particular, is a real challenge we must address and overcome if we are to maximize our economic development potential,” the governor wrote in a weekend op-ed piece. “Our proximity in mileage to New York City means nothing if it takes 90 minutes to get there from Stamford on the road, and over an hour by train.”
The problem Lamont faces, though, is that the state budget’s General Fund — which covers about 90 percent of all operating costs — is arguably in worse shape than the transportation program.
Lamont, whose first budget is due Wednesday to legislators, must offer a plan to avert a potential $1.5 billion shortfall in the coming fiscal year, and a $2 billion potential deficit in 2020-21.
Further complicating matters, the new governor wants to close those gaps without raising the state income tax and while delivering property tax relief to poor and middle-class households.
Part of his budget fix involves reining in Connecticut’s credit card. Lamont proposed a “debt diet” for general obligation borrowing. G.O. bonds, which are repaid using receipts from the income tax and other proceeds of the General Fund, are the principal tool used to finance municipal school construction and capital projects at public universities.But slamming the brakes on this borrowing also has big repercussions for transportation.
Lawmakers put a ‘patch’ on transportation system
Legislators couldn’t agree in 2017 or 2018 on tolls, despite repeated warnings from then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy that the transportation program was running short of cash and could do little more than basic maintenance.
As a compromise, lawmakers put a financial ‘patch’ on transportation to buy a few more years until a long-term solution could be found.
One section of that patch involved dedicating a portion of the school construction credit card — up to $250 million per year in G.O. bonding — to support transportation projects.
That would supplement the regular transportation borrowing program — about $750 million to $800 million per year — repaid from the budget’s Special Transportation Fund, which largely is supported with fuel tax receipts.
State borrowing for transportation is absolutely crucial because it qualifies Connecticut for more than $700 million-plus per year in federal transportation grants.
As a second part of the 2017-18 compromise, legislators agreed to speed up a planned transfer of sales tax receipts from the General Fund into the Special Transportation Fund.
The transportation program is expected to receive, on average, an extra $100 million in each of the next two fiscal years.Lamont’s first budget, will have to decide whether to maintain those transfers.
By a nearly nine-to-one margin, voters last November ratified a new amendment to the state Constitution creating a legal “lockbox” to protect transportation funds for being used for other purposes.
But that provision applies only to resources credited to the transportation fund after the amendment’s ratification. And those resources aren’t earmarked to arrive in the transportation program until the next fiscal year begins on July 1.
A state constitutional amendment approved by voters in November should assure that revenues raised by tolling and the gas tax will be placed in a lockbox for transportation-related uses only.
Having flipped on the issue, Lamont’s challenge will be selling a tolling plan to the legislature. What kind of discounts can be offered to Connecticut drivers without endangering access to federal funds? Where will the gantries to electronically assess tolls be placed? Will motorists get a discount for driving off-peak hours?
This debate is only just beginning.
The Day editorial board meets regularly with political, business and community leaders and convenes weekly to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Pat Richardson, Editorial Page Editor Paul Choiniere, retired Day editor Lisa McGinley, Managing Editor Tim Cotter and Staff Writer Julia Bergman. However, only the publisher and editorial page editor are responsible for developing the editorial opinions. The board operates independently from the Day newsroom.
Lamont arrives at right toll policy the wrong way
The Day Editorial Board
Gov. Ned Lamont is taking a lot of heat for his policy reversal on the issue of tolls, and with good reason.
During his campaign for governor, the Democrat took what was a politically expedient position at the time. Lamont told voters that if elected he would support assessing tolls only on large trucks traversing our highways. It was a you-can-have-your-cake-and-eat-it-to approach. Lamont could argue about the need for tolling to raise money for meeting Connecticut’s transportation needs, while saying you, the voter, wouldn’t have to pay. Rhode Island provided the example with its trucks-only approach to tolling, a move that is confronting a legal challenge from the trucking industry.
On Saturday, however, Lamont announced he would consider electronic tolling of all vehicles, not just trucks. He cited the recommendations of the transportation study group he appointed after the election. It urged him to abandon his truck-only approach. That provided convenient cover for the policy change.
The governor says he now recognizes that a toll assessed on trucks would be enough to maintain the transportation system, but it would not provide the financial resources to repair and upgrade it. He’s right. There is a reason the states surrounding Connecticut impose tolls.
While it is always troubling to see a candidate say one thing when campaigning and do another when elected, Lamont has arrived at the right decision. In this editorial space we have long argued that while no one relishes the idea of having to pay tolls, tolling is the best means of raising the money necessary to improve Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure and tapping out-of-state drivers to help pay for it. The governor knows having a modern transportation system is critical to Connecticut’s economic future.
Barry Lytton
STAMFORD — Tuesday marked the beginning of a six-month project to replace the rail overpass on Atlantic Street, closing but a sliver of Atlantic Street to install a median column, but changing traffic patterns for the South End neighborhood.
The $75 million bridge replacement, discussed by state officials for years, will fully replace the rail lines atop the bridge and widen and heighten driving lanes below. It will push traffic, some 4,100 vehicles a day on average, to three other arteries in and out of the South End. Part of the project calls for more closures nearby later on.
By Sept. 8, all roads will re-open, according to the state Department of Transportation.
For more information, visit www.atlanticstreetbridge.com or sign up for updates by emailing info@atlanticstreetbridge.com.