The following is an update I gave to the Town Board Monday night.
All was included in the minutes of the meeting.
First there has been many questions as to how much it costs us to maintain the tolls, information is not easy to find at all so I looked at it in a conservative way.
Take the 8 toll takers working 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Just computing for the employees only, they cost us over 3.2 million a year. This figure does not include over lapping shifts, vacations or the cost of utilities or management etc....
How many vehicles does it take to cover the 8000 dollars a day that the employees cost? 11,000 cars must pass thru the tolls paying the full 75 cents to meet that figure.
Let's look at the "lost revenue" end, some say we need to find a place to make up the revenue as they did with the other tolls that were taken down. I have found three sources.
1- In 2005 Governor Pataki said he would take the canal costs from the thruway authority, that would save the toll payers 110 million a year. Has this been done? I don't know, if so why haven't the tolls through out WNY been removed.
2- in 1993 the thruway authority took two roads from the NYS DOT I-84 which was just given back to DOT saving the 14 million dollar cost for the lost revenue of the Buffalo tolls. The other road is I-287
I-287 is known as a beltway around NYCity. Interstate 287, known as the Cross-Westchester Expressway, was purchased by the New York Thruway in 1993. There are no tolls except for the one way toll over the Tappan Zee bridge. This road could be given back to the NYState DOT easing the dollar burden from them.
3- Our Albany Legislature spends over 200 million in PORK or better know as "member items", they can surely absorb the miniscule costs of these tolls.
How much revenue will actually be lost from these tolls? No one really knows. But when the tolls cost us close to 5 million dollars a year, it would be difficult to see any "profit".
All the tolls on the New York Thruway should be removed as was the intent when the thruway was built.
In 1997, the construction bond used to build the Thruway had been paid off, and all tolls along the Thruway were supposed to be abolished. However, the New York State Legislature voted to maintain the tolls. This action has generated regional hostility within the state, particularly from the upstate counties which see the maintenance of the toll as a regional-based tax and that the tolls help maintain the economic disparity between the poor, rural upstate and the rich, urban downstate.
Next Tuesday I plan on being in Albany to present the Governor with the petition signatures we currently have. I have contacted our representatives Hoyt, Coppola and Slaughter and they have not responded to me. I have garnered the support of the Senate Republicans Volker and Maziarz and some Republican Assemblymen that are willing to help us out.
I have asked our representatives in Albany to craft legislation to eliminate the tolls so maybe I will not have to travel to visit the Governor. I have not heard back from them. I have also started gaining support for a protest at the toll booths, a silent protest where we will line the bridge with people holding signs. We will not be violating the law as we will be on the pedestrian sidewalk. If and only IF we are not successful next week in Albany will I start and finish orginizing that protest.
These tolls at the bridges can come down with the swipe of a pen from the governor. The rest of the tolls can come down if the legislature decides to do so. At this point it is all political and for the sake of the taxpaying citizens of Western New York they should be taken down as soon as possible.
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This is response to an email question..
Rus:
Trying to get my head around the tolls issue.......so bear with me.....
Why should the tolls be removed on the grand island bridges? is this an equity issue that it's just unfair to make people pay a toll?.......has the time the tolls were supposed to expire passed, and therefore there are still tolls illegally?.......how much do the tolls raise compared with how much maintenance the bridges need?.......is there a plan to replace the bridges because they are obsolete?
I guess i'm woefully ignorant of the grand island bridge issue.......
I know those answers are simple but anything you can say would help me understand....
Thanks....
The tolls were supposed to be removed in the 50's once the bridges were paid for, they are still here and the excuse since the 50's has been. We cannot remove the tolls until the bonds are paid off, well they pay off the bonds and then re-issue new bonds keeping us forever in that cycle of paying off bonds.
There is a Law according to the Federal Constitution saying that people cannot be charged a fee to get home. We have no choice, there is no alternate route, there is no pontoon bridge or even a ferry to get people on and off the island.
It is virtually impossible to get traffic reports for the bridges, equeally impossible is a figure as to how much money is being generated from the tolls. We can do this though and it will be looking at it very conservatively. 8 full time toll takers working 24 hours a day 365 days a year costs 3.2 million. Or break it down to over $8000 a day. How many cars a day would it take to make that amount of money? Over 11,000 a day paying the full .75 cent toll.
So is there really any money left over from payroll to cover maintenance? God only knows.
These figures only cover 8 employees, not included is over lapping shifts, holidays, vacations, sick time, utilities, etc.... This is strictly 8 employees working 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
There is no plan to replace the bridges, there will be major construction taking place on one of the S. bridges in 08. The decking needs replacing. At first the plan was to close the one S. bridge for two years leaving us with one bridge to get on and off plus keeping the tolls. That was scrapped by pressure on the Thruway authority. Now construction will be done at night with precast sections being replaced overnight. We had to wake these people up. Thank God we succeeded.
As far as I am concerned the tolls are here illegally but they have written things to word differently. The toll law from 1996 that was the basis for the lawsuit by Mike Powers clearly states "excludes bridges" who do you think that was aimed at? Grand Island, who ever represented the district back then completely failed us when the law was written. Niagara Toll Law.
Back in 2001 when I ran for Town Council part of my platform was to eliminate the tolls or complete the LaSalle Expressway. Knowing that it was inevitable that the casinos would be coming to Nia Falls and knowing with a little foresight that the traffic would increase across Grand Island, we had to act back then to confront the traffic problem. Nothing was done, no one has ever done anything to confront the traffic issue, so as per usual, government is reactive vs being pro-active and confronting the issue we face today.
Why wasn't the LaSalle Expressway ever finished? No one can tell me. Now we have a road that brings you right to William St and ends. The LaSalle was supposed to go to the Colvin extension and to the 290 (Youngman). We are stuck with a highway to Sears and that's about it.
One of the major problems that we face is the daily back up of traffic at rush hour(s) When vehicles are at a dead stop on the 190 and the 290 waiting in line to pay tolls to go over the bridge they have created a traffic hazard when vehicles coming up behind them at 55 to 60 MPH. One of these days someone is going to get killed.
Try driving over the bridges during the summer when Fantasy Island is open, or when there is a big event at the casino in the falls or when tourists are flocking to either Nia Falls Canada/USA..
It is time the Thruway Authority and government stop being an employment agency and respond to the increasing traffic hazard on the bridges, remove the tolls and allow the free flow of traffic across Grand Island.
