‘It’s a significant broken promise’
Lamont sets off firestorm as he reverses stand on tolls
Lawmakers and Connecticut residents are firing back at Gov. Ned Lamont’s revelation that he’s considering broad tolling of all vehicles — and the debate isn’t only about the merits of tolls.
“It’s a significant broken promise of his and that’s disheartening,” said Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano. “He has never had a conversation with us, he never picked up the phone and asked us, ‘Hey how do we do this’... There’s never been a substantive conversation.”
Fasano, a North Haven Republican, echoed and amplified exploding outrage from toll opponents in response to an Opinion page piece by Lamont Saturday in five Hearst Connecticut Media newspapers. The governor said his budget Wednesday will propose two options on tolls: interstate trucks only, which he had long favored, and tolling of all vehicles on highways and bridges.
That set off anger on two fronts. There is the debate on tolls — which opponents call just another tax — and on Saturday, sharp words about Lamont’s integrity from many who cited his campaign position.
“Can anyone he surprised at this? Elections have consequences. Wonder why Amazon said no?” one commenter said on the conservative Facebook page, Fiscal ImpaCT.
The group No Tolls CT issued a statement saying it will hold “its first of many protests on February 23 in Stamford in front of the Stamford Government Center at 888 Washington Blvd from 12:00 P.M. until 1:30 P.M.”
Defenders also stepped up, as Democratic
leaders said Lamont was simply coming around, albeit late, to the realization that highways tolls are, in their view, the only viable option to pay for the massive infrastructure upgrades Connecticut needs.
“I have been talking about this and promoting this literally for almost a year and I know opposition wants to reduce the issue and simplify to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on tolls, but that’s really not the issue. It’s ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on ‘Do we want to grow the economy?’” said State Sen. Alex Bergstein, D-Greenwich, who has advocated for broad tolling across the state.
Bergstein said she also has not spoken with the governor about his tolling proposals.
“@GovNedLamont deserves credit for having the guts to do the right thing, even though he knows he’ll take a ton of heat for it,” political consultant Roy Occhiogrosso tweeted. “He’s providing a second option, which legislators were going to debate, anyway.”
Lamont, in his opinion piece, did not spell out details of his proposals. Broad tolling would raise between $500 million and $1 billion, more or less, with the percentage coming from out-of-satte motorists ranging from 40 percent to, in Lamont’s view, 50 percent.
“I understand how controversial electronic tolling is,” Lamont wrote, acknowledging he had adamantly rejected broad tolling until now. He said he’s “open to a real discussion” with lawmakers and residents “about the state of our transportation system and what will be needed going forward.”
Fasano doesn’t buy it.
“Those are shadows from the past administration, where they don’t talk to anybody, and that’s something that I thought he was going to move away from, and apparently I have to now question whether that’s accurate.”
Critics have said Lamont has always intended to institute broad tolling, as recommended by his transition advisory board for transportation, including Joe Giulietti, his designated Department of Transportation commissioner.
“True leaders don’t throw up ‘two options’ and wait and see which way the wind blows,” Bob Stefanowski, the Republican candidate Lamont beat by three percentage points in November. “Lamont made his decision not to toll autos, and Connecticut voters relied on his promise. He should not waffle now.”
Lamont’s office did not comment on accusations that he was less than truthful in his campaign and that he is now only easing into an inevitable support for full tolling. Lamont said in his Op-Ed, however, that he has come to realize that tolling only tractor-trailer is too limited because of federal rules and laws regulating tolls..
He wrote that attorneys are “pretty certain” that if trucks-only tolling survives a court challenge in Rhode Island, “the tolling could only be done on specific bridges and the generated revenue would be reserved for those bridges.”
Therefore, he wrote, “the truck-only option provides too little revenue, too slowly and too piecemeal to make a meaningful difference.”
Bergstein praised Lamont’s realization and said transportation improvements will attract people to Connecticut. “We need to send a very clear signal as a state that we’re going to take the necessary steps. It includes tolls plus an infrastructure bank.”
Lamont, a Democrat, said he would consider broad tolling only if a Connecticut EZPass or frequent driver discount were included, in which “out-of-state drivers would provide nearly 50% of our tolling revenue.”
In order to offset the financial burden of tolling, Lamont suggests the state could increase the earned income tax credit for lowincome workers, or reduce the gas tax.
A preliminary study released in November by the DOT said the state could collect $1 billion a year in tolls. It estimated out-of-state drivers would contribute 40 percent of the revenue. That study, which the department said was an illustration, not a proposal, envisioned as many as 82 toll gantries on all 13 of the state’s interstate highways and four-lane roads, including Route 8, Route 9 and the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways.
“Governor-elect Lamont stands by his campaign promise not to toll personal vehicles,” a Lamont spokeswoman said when the report came out.
Carol Platt Liebau, president of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, said any form of tolling would be too much of a financial burden for Connecticut residents, even with a discount.
“Before even considering another tax on Connecticut’s people, who are already over taxed, the Yankee Institute believes Governor Lamont should consider responsible costcutting measures,” Liebau said, adding, “Without proposing a single measure that would rein in costs, our leaders want to impose yet another tax on us. That’s utterly unacceptable.”
DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said in an email Friday the typical percentage rate of collection in Northeast states is in the 40s for out-of-state vehicles. “It could be 45-50 percent,” he said.
“As you may know, CT is the only state on the East Coast without tolls,” Everhart said.
Lamont said he doesn’t believe there is a way to pay for needed work without at least some tolling. “There is no doubt in my mind that our transportation fund will require additional strategic and recurring revenues in the very near future,” Lamont wrote. “In my opinion, there is no way around that hard fact.”
The Op-Ed appeared in the Greenwich Time, Stamford Advocate, Norwalk Hour, Connectucut Post and The News-Times of Danbury.