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Mar-18-2009Patrick Slammed On Turnpike Controversies(topic overview)
CONTENTS:
- LeBovidge and Jay Gonzalez, the state's undersecretary for administration and finance, said there are several significant legal and financial obstacles to using money raised in the western area to pay off the debt associated with the road's eastern portion, which includes the Big Dig. (More...)
- Turnpike Authority executive director Alan LeBovidge acknowledged that the $100 million funding gap the toll hike would cover could grow to $124 million if $800 million in Turnpike debt is not refinanced by the end of fiscal 2010. (More...)
- Wagner (D-Chicopee) suggested the agency explore removing the "firewall" between Metropolitan Highway System and Western Turnpike finances, reinstating tolls on exits 1 through 6 and in Newton, boosting tolls west of Rte. 128, increased layoffs, toll-taker layoffs, and additional assistance from the state's General Fund, which is already under duress from broader fiscal pressures. (More...)
- The authority has also hired two high-priced staffers in the past few months, one with a salary of $90,000 and another earning $122,000 a year. (More...)
- In selling the plan to toll payers, turnpike savings should be clearly measured and the disposition of the savings made transparent by means of a projected cash-flow statement. (More...)
- LeBovidge and Patrick budget aide Jay Gonzalez said bond markets have not permitted refinancing of roughly $800 million in debt, a failure that has forced the state to make roughly $2 million per month in interest payments. (More...)
- "Only several hours after a final vote on tolls did we get the administration's view on reform," Wagner said. (More...)
- The Turnpike employs 441 full- and part-time toll takers who earn an average salary of $71,000. (More...)
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LeBovidge and Jay Gonzalez, the state's undersecretary for administration and finance, said there are several significant legal and financial obstacles to using money raised in the western area to pay off the debt associated with the road's eastern portion, which includes the Big Dig. They include costly refinancing charges for the agency's debt. They also said they want to avoid one-time fixes to the Turnpike Authority's problems. They continued to argue that Patrick's current plan to reorganize the state's transportation system, eliminating the Turnpike Authority, would provide a more comprehensive solution. They said any plan must include raising more money for the state's transportation system, still under the weight of Big Dig debt. Patrick has promised that two toll increases scheduled for this month and in July - scheduled to ultimately raise $100 million a year - will be rolled back if lawmakers increase the gas tax by 19 cents as part of his plan. Wagner said yesterday that he believes lawmakers will not support anything higher than 9 cents. Even if Patrick's plan passes, the Turnpike Authority will still have to deal with risky investments it agreed to earlier this decade to generate quick cash. [1] Legislators said at a turnpike oversight hearing yesterday that the authority has not considered enough alternatives to the toll increase, which takes effect March 29, and "that drives people absolutely off a cliff." Yesterday's hearing underscored the anxiety many lawmakers are feeling, as constituents barrage them with concerns about the threat of a rise in toll fees, a gas tax increase, or both. "People woke up one day and read $7 tolls and it made them crazy," said Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat who cochairs the joint transportation committee. Wagner said the authority should consider reinstating tolls on the West Newton exit, raising commercial tolls in Western Massachusetts, reinstating them for passenger cars in those western exits, and seeking more state money to pay the authority's Big Dig debt. Such alternatives could raise more than $30 million a year, reducing the urgency of a toll increase in Greater Boston and tempering the concerns of commuters who would like to see all options explored before paying higher gas taxes or steeper tolls inside Route 128, he said.[1]
The Legislature would likely approve a gas tax increase under a dime per gallon, less than half the 19 cents proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick, and would entertain a variety of targeted toll increases if they were accompanied by deep cost-savings, a key House chairman said Monday. Rep. Joseph Wagner and Sen. Steven Baddour, co-chairs of the Transportation Committee and leaders of a House-Senate working group crafting an alternative to Patrick's plan, told administration officials they should consider measures to mitigate the toll hike slated to take effect March 29, and both expressed surprise that no toll-takers have been laid off, six months after officials said more than 100 would be eliminated within 18 months. Wagner said he had concluded that lawmakers would not support a gas tax increase of a dime, far lower than the 19-cent hike, indexed to inflation, that Patrick has proposed.[2] Much of Monday's hearing dwelt on legislators' frustration with the administration's long-delayed transportation policy, intended to heal part of an estimated 20-year, $20 billion transportation infrastructure maintenance deficit. "It wasn't forward to us in a very straightforward way," Wagner said of Patrick's reform proposal, which would prevent toll hikes by imposing a higher gas tax, collapse the transportation bureaucracy, and pursue cost-savings.[2]
Governor Patrick has been pushing for a 19-cent gas tax increase to raise funds for the states debt-laden transportation systems in lieu of the toll hikes, as well as restructure the transit system by eliminating the Turnpike Authority altogether.[3] For instance, while the governor's plan calls for rescinding the $100 million toll hike set for March 29 and July 1 by allotting a portion of a gas tax increase to the turnpike, the legislation also provides for future toll hikes at the behest of the highway division. Even if the current toll hike is averted all or in part, the table lies set for future toll hikes, making it likely that drivers will be paying both increased tolls and a higher gas tax.[4] Lawmakers told Patrick aides Monday that the administration's move to raise tolls by $100 million a year before releasing a reform and financing plan was "insulting," and requested the Turnpike Authority consider a range of alternatives before the increase takes effect March 29.[2]
The turnpike has been paying UBS, the Swiss banking giant, $2 million a month as part of a complex credit transaction. The worldwide credit crunch has left the authority unable to refinance its debt to cancel out those payments. Cullinane said he signed an agreement with the Turnpike Authority in December to reduce staff by the equivalent of 100 full-time employees within 18 months, offering voluntary layoffs before firing workers. He expects involuntary layoffs to begin in June or July, he said. LeBovidge said he has also eliminated management positions, leaving the authority with 120 fewer employees than it had a year ago. That number includes the toll collector vacancies.[1] Turnpike Executive Director Alan LeBovidge tells The Boston Globe the agency has left 48 positions unfilled over the past year. He says layoffs from the remaining toll-collecting staff of 424 will take six to 12 months because of collective bargaining rules. LeBovidge says he has also eliminated management positions, leaving the financially struggling authority with 120 fewer employees than a year ago.[5] Alan LeBovidge, the turnpike's executive director, called the layoff process time-consuming and "onerous" and told lawmakers yesterday that the agency has left 48 positions unfilled over the past year, after workers retired or took voluntary layoffs. That figure includes many workers who left before the September layoff announcement.[1]
Turnpike Authority executive director Alan LeBovidge acknowledged that the $100 million funding gap the toll hike would cover could grow to $124 million if $800 million in Turnpike debt is not refinanced by the end of fiscal 2010. [2] Some, however, earn as much as $90,000 with overtime pay. 'With 10 percent unemployment in Massachusetts and people counting their pennies across the state, the last thing people want to hear about are gas taxes, toll hikes or politically connected people getting jobs when they're losing theirs,' said Democratic political analyst Mary Anne Marsh. LeBovidge cut short an interview Tuesday, but he noted that the Turnpike has cut $30 million from its budget and 120 positions through retirement and attrition.[6]
BOSTON (AP) - The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has not laid off a single toll collector despite a pledge in September to cut 100 positions to save money, even as tolls are set to jump later this month.[5] Turnpike Authority has yet to make layoffs Boston Globe The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which pledged in September to begin laying off 100 toll collectors, has yet to fire any workers, even as it gears up for a toll hike later this month to raise money.[1] By WBUR News and Wire Services BOSTON - March 17, 2009 - Despite announcing 100 layoffs of toll collectors six months ago, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has still not let any workers go.[3]
Wagner (D-Chicopee) suggested the agency explore removing the "firewall" between Metropolitan Highway System and Western Turnpike finances, reinstating tolls on exits 1 through 6 and in Newton, boosting tolls west of Rte. 128, increased layoffs, toll-taker layoffs, and additional assistance from the state's General Fund, which is already under duress from broader fiscal pressures. Baddour estimated those measures could net $50 million for the Pike. Baddour told the Patrick aides he wanted them to consider "the Wagner plan" at the Pike board's next meeting, March 23. [2] Measuring Pike reform Boston Globe WHEN IT COMES to reform, numbers talk. That may be one of the reasons Governor Patrick's transportation team touts its legislation claiming $31 million already saved through turnpike reform by the elimination of middle management and toll takers.[4]
Last fall, the turnpike board discussed reinstating the West Newton toll and the passenger tolls at exits 1 through 6 in Western Massachusetts, which were eliminated in 1996. Governor Deval Patrick's administration, which had flirted with taking down more tolls, never included those ideas in its transportation plans.[1]
By Steve Brown BOSTON - March 16, 2009 - Beacon Hill lawmakers are indicating a lack of support for Gov. Deval Patricks call for a 19-cent hike in the gasoline tax, to help pay for an overhaul of the states transportation system.[7] At her conveniently scheduled Monday morning "public hearing," it was Rachel Kaprielian, the hack Registrar of Motor Vehicles and former rep. She defended the Registry's increased fees, saying the extra 6.50 a year theft from motorists is merely "a couple of cups of Starbucks." Before that, it was her boss, Deval, defending his scheme to double the state's gas tax by claiming it would "only cost. the equivalent of one large cup of coffee each week, or about 8 a month." Then there was his administration's "transportation planning document," which called for a 27-cent increase in the gas tax.[8] No one would even notice the highest gasoline tax in the nation, some anonymous payroll patriot wrote, because the "average user will pay about an additional 120 a year, less than the cost of two small Dunkin' Donuts coffees per week." Next, come on down Jim Aloisi, the transportation secretary whose sister got that very necessary 60,000-a-year job in Kaprielian's State House office after she quit. Aloisi brushed off the annual cost of the new 6 Turnpike Fast Lane transponder fees by saying it was "less than the cost of the turkey sandwich he just had for lunch."[8]
House Transportation Chairman Joseph Wagner says the state should reinstate tolls on the western part of the Mass. Turnpike, and at Newton, before raising tolls elsewhere.[7]
While it sounds impressive to rid the state of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the toll payer should be leery of the dissolution's implementation.[4] While eliminating the Turnpike Authority is likely to achieve cost savings, it is doubtful that the toll payer will reap the benefit of the savings.[4]
James Aloisi Jr. and the Turnpike Authority'''s board of directors threaten to raise tolls if the gas tax isn'''t increased. It seems our political leaders have lost all reason.[9]
The problem is, a cup of coffee here, a turkey sandwich there, and pretty soon you're talking real money. Aloisi himself let the cat out of the bag at his meeting with legislators the day after the Turnpike board rubber-stamped the March 29 toll hike. According to solons who were there, Aloisi said they couldn't lay off toll collectors because, number 1, there was a "depression" going on, and number 2, so many of the sticky-fingered millionaires were sent to the Pike by the legislators themselves.[8] Wagner, who proposed a number of options to mitigate toll or tax hikes, said the alternative bill would be ready "sooner rather than later." Both Baddour and Wagner said they were unsure whether the March 29 adjustment could be postponed or mitigated.[2]
Asked by a reporter later whether the March 29 boost in toll rates could be avoided, Patrick replied, "You know what, that question really isn't for me. That question is for the Legislature.[2]
The authority has also hired two high-priced staffers in the past few months, one with a salary of $90,000 and another earning $122,000 a year. The cash-strapped Pike is set to increase tolls at the end of the month, then again later this year. [3] The news of Aloisi's sister's employment followed on the heels of a discovery last week that Patrick had appointed Sen. Marian Walsh to a position that had been vacant for 12 years at a salary of $175,000 per year. 'It adds up in dollars and it adds up in people really being cynical, so it's a two-fold thing, but when you're talking about $100,000 salaries or $175,000 salaries, those add up," said Treasurer Tim Cahill.[6]
Then the turnpike tried to explain Tuesday why it recently hired two managers at an additional cost of nearly $250,000, yet it still hasn't laid off the 100 toll-takers promised to be cut in September. "If people can add value, then I want them on my team," said Turnpike Executive Director Alan LeBovidge.[6] Turnpike Executive Director Alan LeBovidge said at a hearing Monday that the process is slow because of collective bargaining rules, and could take six to 12 months.[3]
During legislative testimony in December, the turnpike's executive director stated that the majority of year-over-year cost reductions sprung from lower consultant costs. A closer look reveals that lumping even those cost reductions under the reform umbrella is surprising, since the bulk of decline in costs relates to expiring Big Dig work.[4]
In selling the plan to toll payers, turnpike savings should be clearly measured and the disposition of the savings made transparent by means of a projected cash-flow statement. [4] The fear remains that despite claims of regional equity, toll payer funds could be diverted to projects beyond the Pike's reach and the toll payer will wind up subsidizing even more of the state's transportation burden. History has shown that during a fiscal crisis, it's easier to institute toll hikes than tax hikes.[4] The more deals cut, the fewer left to subsidize them, pitting toll payer against toll payer.[4]
LeBovidge says hes cut 120 management positions over the past year and has left 48 positions unfilled.[3]
LeBovidge said "true layoffs" from the remaining toll-collecting staff of 424 are the next step, but will take six to 12 months because of collective bargaining rules that give senior employees the right to bump newer hires. Even last year, he said the full layoffs would take 12 to 18 months. "It could be done a lot faster if they could move more efficiently on doing anything," said Robert Cullinane, principal officer of Teamsters Union Local 127, which represents toll takers. "But they can't even move efficiently when they're trying to get rid of people."[1] Wagner said the western Pike, projected to run a deficit next year, needs maintenance and financing attention, telling LeBovidge, "I think you've got a problem now that you simply haven't addressed."[2] LeBovidge said the Pike now employs 424 toll-takers, 48 fewer than a year ago, with the reductions coming largely through retirements. "I think that information provided here today makes it clear that they have other avenues for remedy, and that for reasons which are beyond my understanding, those avenues have not been pursued," Wagner told reporters after the hearing.[2]
LeBovidge and Patrick budget aide Jay Gonzalez said bond markets have not permitted refinancing of roughly $800 million in debt, a failure that has forced the state to make roughly $2 million per month in interest payments. [2] The result of higher taxes, tolls and fees is less consumer spending, which further depresses the economy. To push those bad ideas forward, Gov. Deval Patrick threatens to reduce state aid to municipalities who don'''t enter the GIC for health insurance or otherwise achieve equivalent savings.[9] Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed raising the gas tax in order to pay for much-needed road and bridge repairs.[7] The gas tax is now 23.5 cents per gallon. Based on discussions with members of both chambers, Wagner told reporters, "I think the votes are there to do less than 10 cents." Later, he told the News Service that tying the levy to cost-of-living increases "has not been central to any discussion."[2]
"Only several hours after a final vote on tolls did we get the administration's view on reform," Wagner said. [2] As long as there are toll booths, the prospect of future toll hikes lurks. What is left in the authority's wake to institute them may be worse than the current system, broken as it may be.[4] The governor's plan calls for toll receipts, fares, fees, and other revenue to be remitted to a newly established Massachusetts transportation fund, largely controlled by the secretary of transportation, conferring the secretary with unprecedented power.[4] Continued tensions between the administration and the Legislature have colored the debate over transportation financing, notably with exchanges through the media between Senate President Therese Murray and Transportation Secretary James Aloisi. After lawmakers repeatedly tempered their criticism of the administration with praise for LeBovidge and Gonzalez individually, Baddour said, "If the secretary was here, it'd be a much different conversation."[2] BOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick was taking his lumps on Beacon Hill on Tuesday, as questions swirled and cynicism grew around his transportation administrators.[6]
The Turnpike employs 441 full- and part-time toll takers who earn an average salary of $71,000. [6] One of the contributing factors leading to the turnpike's financial deterioration was the amount of deals cut through legislation or at the authority's discretion for specific classes of turnpike users in the form of free rides and discounts.[4]
SOURCES
1. Turnpike Authority has yet to make layoffs - The Boston Globe
2. Lawmakers signal consensus forming for gas tax hike - Belmont, MA - Belmont Citizen-Herald
3. Despite Announcement, No Pink Slips At The Pike (WBUR)
4. Measuring Pike reform - The Boston Globe
5. WTEN: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports - Mass. Turnpike has yet to lay off workers
6. Patrick Slammed On Turnpike Controversies - Politics News Story - WCVB Boston
7. Support Weak for 19-Cent Gas Tax Hike (WBUR)
8. Let's all give up coffee, lunch to feed Pike hacks - BostonHerald.com
9. YOUR OPINION: New taxes will slow recovery - Quincy, MA - The Patriot Ledger
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