On November 1st, toll rates at 7 Maryland's 8 toll facilities (owned and operated by the Maryland Transportation Authority) will increase significantly as phase one of a two-part fare increase plan. Most notably, the toll rate at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge will increase from its current $2.50 (the least expensive toll in the state) to $4 and then to $6 in July 2013. Tolls at the Baltimore Harbor crossings (the 2 tunnels and the Key Bridge) will increase to $3 in November and then $4 (for a one way trip) in July 2013. According to the MdTA, the rate increases are necessary to cover $90 million in debt to the MdTA so that the agency can maintain its "aging" bridges and tunnels. These new toll rates are somewhat lower than what the MdTA originally proposed back in June, which included a rate hike at the Bay Bridge from $2.50 to $5 this Fall!
Some of the biggest opponents of the plan are Eastern Shore residents who use the Bay Bridge as their only means of going to and from the Baltimore and Washington area, as well as Cecil County residents who use the Millard Tydings and Thomas Hatem bridges over the Susquenhanna River. Major critics of the proposals included US Representative Andy Harris and State Senator EJ Pipkin, both of the Eastern Shore. Their major argument is that these toll increases are tantamount to tax increases that will hurt small buisnesses (especially in the trucking industry) that depend on transportation across the toll facilities on a frequent basis. Tolls and fuel charges are the number one costs of these buisnesses, and if their charges on transportation were to continue to increase, they limits their hiring power and does not produce jobs. Besides, people in this state are already gouged enough as it is with taxes and fees (to where this money goes...nobody knows..........). We don't really need to start paying more at the toll booth.
The agency counters these arguments by stating that tolls in this state have not increased in years. This, in fact, is true. The toll at Baltimore Harbor has been $2 since 2003 and the Bay Bridge has been $2.50 for several years. Commuter rates for Maryland's toll facilities are also very competitive, although they will be increasing for the first time in over 25 years. However it makes me wonder, where does all of that money the MdTA makes on the Bay Bridge alone actually go?
It seems like a logical question. It would be one thing to accept toll increaes if we knew definitively that current rates were insufficient to maintain the facilities. That's one thing. Yet, I personally wonder whether or not the money currently being raked in by the MdTA is actually being used already for that purpose. Take for example current projects being undertaken by the MdTA. In only a couple years, the I-95 express toll lanes north of Baltimore will be open. The ICC is still under construction east of Route 97. These projects are currently experiencing cost overruns that these toll increases will help cover. This begs the question: why didn't the MdTA raise rates on the ICC (or set them slightly higher in the first place)? At the same time, how many people do the MdTA really expect to use the ETLs if they have to jack rates up at the Bay Bridge to pay for it now? I can definitely feel the Eastern Shore's plight here. If they are going to raise rates at the Bridge, at least use some of that money to help out the Eastern Shore a little more. Hey...I got an idea! How about build another Bay Bridge! Build it east of Baltimore and land it at Rock Hall in Kent County. It would alleviate so much traffic on the current Bridge and make it even easier to access the ocean resorts, which would most definitely boom buisness.
Oh no...can't do that...that would be bad for the environment............
Then, let's not forget this is Maryland. The MdTA says that no general fund money is used to fund Maryland's toll facilities. OK, fine, but how dow we know that MdTA toll money isn't going to, say, programs in Baltimore City to keep the electorate happy. Speculation to be sure, this is Maryland after all. That would be a really big reason to raise the rates at the Bridge.
I bet that would go over REALLY well with the guys on the Shore if that really were the case.
We should just have all of our public works projects be conducted by Comcast and BG&E. The private sector is soooo much more efficient at everything. And as an added bonus, everything would be more expensive than it is! Yay!
ReplyDeleteIf there is money to be made, then yes, the private sector WILL be more efficient. Or else you go out of business. That's the way it works.
ReplyDeleteGovernment dicks around constantly and that's why we have ballooning deficits and cost overruns. There is no incentive to actually keep things within the budget when it comes to the state. And instead of looking at the, ahem, "root cause" (as liberals love doing when it comes to violence, poverty, and terrorism) of the problem, you end up getting further regressive taxes that do more to stifle people's pocketbooks, such as toll increases.
I wouldn't have as much of a problem if we KNEW that the money was going toward what they SAY it is going toward. In this state, we just don't. The state is in debt up to its eyeballs, hiking up toll rates is one way to buy it down (as opposed to...say...cutting spending...what a novel idea), but they'll never tell you that.
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