Governor Deval Patrick will today announce that he will file legislation that will raise the state’s gasoline tax by 19 cents, bringing it from 23.5 cents to 42.5 cents per gallon. While less than the Governor’s trial balloon number of 29 cents it appears to be large enough to create a political problem with the legislature. The Governor also will unveil some prospective reforms, looking to the Transportation Finance Committee Report as a guidepost for those reforms.
The proposal, which would raise about $500 million a year, would help the MBTA stave off a threatened combination of drastic fare increases and service cuts, strengthen regional bus and rail systems, and wean the state from a constant stream of borrowing to pay for basic road and bridge operations, the officials said.
The proposal would also reorganize the state’s transportation system, putting all the bureaucracies that run roads, buses, trains, and airports under the governor’s control in an attempt to reduce overlap and inefficiency.
Patrick would also adopt numerous structural changes proposed by an influential state panel, including cuts in future MBTA fringe benefits that have been especially costly. The Turnpike Authority, a continual target of public anger, would disappear.
Patrick will also advocate that tolls remain, but not be hiked. But the Turnpike Authority, running out of time, is moving towards a toll increase now.
But even as Patrick supports freezing tolls on the turnpike, the authority’s board may be forced to vote on an increase Tuesday. The board has been putting off a vote, but members have said they need to approve some type of increase this month to avoid what could be a costly downgrade by credit rating agencies.
A two-step toll-increase plan, discussed at last month’s board meeting, is on the agenda that was delivered to board members yesterday.
The plan would impose a 25 cent increase at the Allston-Brighton and Weston booths, bringing the cash toll to $1.50, and a $2 increase at the Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels, bringing it to $5.50
The Governor, despite making a speech unveiling this proposal today, will still not file legislation until next week. The delays in formulating a strategy have been politically costly and will necessitate expedited action by the Legislature if toll increases are to be averted. Asking the Legislature to expedite action on a large gas tax increase is not likely to be successful.
Patrick first promised in 2007 to deliver a transportation overhaul that would consolidate the various transportation bureaucracies in an attempt to save money and run them more efficiently.
That plan never materialized.
Last fall, with the threat looming of $7 tunnel tolls, he promised to eliminate the Turnpike Authority and shift many of its functions to the agency that runs the seaport and Logan International Airport.
That plan has been abandoned because fixing the system “requires a more aggressive step,” an administration official said. “We’re not fooling around on the edges.”
As the transportation debate has continued, the problems have grown worse. The MBTA is now projecting a deficit next year of more than $150 million.
The agency has canceled contracts to buy new commuter train equipment and was told recently that the federal government would not fund a key expansion project until finances improve.
The Senate has already filed their reform package, which also relies on the recommendations of the Transportation Finance Commission. Reaction from Joe Wagoner, House Chair of Transportation, was guarded.
Representative Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat who cochairs the Joint Committee on Transportation, said late yesterday that he had yet to read a specific plan and was skeptical of anything pulled together so soon before an unpopular toll vote.
“This has been talked about since the fall of 2007,” Wagner said. “I think it should have been put together well ahead of now.”
No response in the Globe story from Senate leadership.
Bill Manzi.com 