State panel to call for gas tax hike
Will also seek new road tolls
A special state commission is expected to call for a 9-cent-agallon increase in the gas tax and reinstatement of tolls that had been eliminated in Western Massachusetts and in West Newton, according to two panel members.
The Transportation Finance Commission, scheduled to act on the proposals Oct. 18, is also likely to lay the groundwork for new tolls on three highways in Western Massachusetts by voting to turn over Interstates 84, 291, and 391 to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which has the power to impose tolls, the two members said.
The commission is expected to recommend that the Turnpike Authority, which was supposed to be eliminated in 2017, be extended indefinitely, according to the two members, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the head of the commission is supposed to speak for the panel.
The commission, created by the Legislature more than two years ago, is made up of specialists in transportation and business.
Its task is to provide a comprehensive and apolitical evaluation of Massachusetts transportation over the next three decades, from highways and bridges to proposed expansions of the commuter rail system.
The panel's call for a gas tax increase comes during a heated gubernatorial campaign in which Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, the GOP nominee, has urged suspension of the current 21-cent-a-gallon state gas tax.
She has also charged that her Democratic opponent, Deval L. Patrick, would raise taxes if elected.
Though the proposals would have to be approved by the Legislature, the panel's recommendations could nonetheless force the candidates to take a position on the gas tax, injecting a new issue into a campaign that has been focused on crime, immigration, and Healey's call to lower the state income tax rate.
Healey faces the awkward political reality that the 13-member commission is chaired by a Republican and that another member, Boston lawyer Harold Hestnes, a longtime Republican civic leader, is the driving force behind the gas tax hike proposal, according to the two members.
The panel's chairman, Stephen J. Silveira, was appointed by Governor Mitt Romney.
Several panel members said they are likely to back the recommendation, along with Silveira and another GOP member, Kevin J. Sullivan, a former top Cabinet official in the Cellucci and Swift administrations.
Silveira declined Friday to provide details of the panel's recommendations, saying they are still subject to change.
``The situation is still very fluid," he said. ``We're talking about a lot of different options. It's important to wait until the end of the day to see how they all hang together. ``It's inaccurate to talk about each item in isolation."
But several members said the commission has concluded the state cannot adequately fund its highways, mass transit system, and other transportation infrastructure without a significant infusion of new revenue.
``With declining federal revenues and the cost of the Central Artery the state must find additional revenue sources to maintain and expand its highways and mass transit," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and a member of the commission who supports a gas tax increase.
A nine-cent increase would generate up to $270 million a year, members said. The state gas tax was last increased in 1990. Under the proposal considered by the commission, the increase would be phased in over five years.
The commission had planned to have its report out by late last year, then that deadline was pushed back to the spring. The commission triggered controversy in April when the Globe reported that Silveira suggested its recommendations not be issued until after the November election.
But other members rejected that timetable, saying they believed it was important that the recommendations and related questions raised by the panel be part of the campaign debate.
Commission members met last Thursday to narrow their list of recommendations and ask its staff for a cost analysis of the various proposals before them.
The group also scheduled a meeting Oct. 18 to vote on final recommendations.
The commission is still analyzing how much the new tolls would bring in. The proposed amount of individual tolls has not been decided.
The recommendations, especially the call for a gas tax increase, are expected to meet strong resistance from legislators, who will be reluctant to approve legislation that will cost drivers -- both at the pump and at the toll booth.
``Addressing the kind of transportation problems the state faces will be very difficult politically," said Widmer. ``There are no easy solutions."
Removing the tolls was accomplished with great fanfare in the 1990s, under the administration of Governor William F. Weld.
The Massachusetts Turnpike tolls from Exit 1 in West Stockbridge to Exit 6 at I-291 just outside of Springfield were eliminated shortly after Weld took control of the Turnpike Authority in 1996.
That year, Weld removed the tollbooth at Route 16 in West Newton, eliminating the toll between Weston and Allston-Brighton.
Locked in a fierce battle to unseat US Senator John F. Kerry, Weld led television cameras and a demolition crew to the toll plaza and told the workers, ``You men ready? Let it rip."
But tolls and taxes are not the only recommendations likely to stir controversy.
The commission is also expected to recommend sweeping changes in pension and medical benefits for MBTA employees and retirees, according to two commission members.
The panel is looking to revamp the current system, which allows MBTA workers to retire with a full pension sooner than other state employees.
Early retirees also receive better health insurance benefits than other state workers, two commission members said.
Other states are also having problems maintaining their transportation systems; 16 are considering toll increases and seven are considering implementing tolls for the first time, according to transportation specialists.
``The interstate system needs major overhauls across the country and the federal government isn't keeping pace with the need," said Widmer.
``With hybrid vehicles and cars with better gas mileage, over the long term Massachusetts, like other states, will need to depend on tolls to replace the gas tax as a major funding source," he said.
Andrea Estes can be reached at estes@globe.com. 