Hopes dim for plan to remove Pike tolls

Governor Mitt Romney's plan to dismantle turnpike tolls is running into a series of political, financial, and legal barriers that are all but certain to doom the effort.

Top Romney administration officials conceded yesterday that the final decision will probably be made by the leaders of the Democrat-controlled Legislature and the incoming Democratic governor, Deval L. Patrick, who have expressed reservations about the plan that would end tolls on the 120-mile stretch of the turnpike from the New York line to Weston.

"If the Legislature and Deval Patrick want to keep the tolls up, then there's no question they will find a way to do it," said Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's director of communications. "We hope they see the wisdom of dismantling the old patronage system at the Turnpike Authority and freeing the motorists who live west of Boston from having to pay a disproportionate share of the Big Dig."

Patrick, who takes office Jan. 4, has said he has serious questions about the administration's rush to remove the tolls without a more thorough investigation of the financial impact on the state.

The tollbooths generate $114 million in annual revenue and, according to a special transportation commission, the removal would add $1 billion over 20 years to the state's $16 billion shortfall in projected funding for state transportation needs. Romney's plan to remove the tolls between Interstate 291 near Springfield and Route 128 would save $2.70 one-way for a passenger vehicle.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority gave preliminary approval to the plan on Oct. 18 and is scheduled to meet today to hear reports on the financial and legal implications of the proposal. But state officials said yesterday the board will not vote on the plan. "It is clear that meeting is not the time for a definitive vote," said Thomas Trimarco, Romney's secretary of administration and finance, who is the governor's appointee to the board.

With the majority of board members appointed by Romney, the authority could vote to remove the tolls over Patrick's objection. In that case, the governor-elect would have several routes to block the removal. The Legislature could expand the board to give Patrick control. Patrick will probably control a required state environmental review of the plan and any agreement by the Highway Department to accept the section of the road from Weston to the New York border as part of its network.

Also yesterday, Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan released a letter saying the legal and financial reviews of the toll plan that were requested by the Turnpike Authority "cast serious doubt on the legality and wisdom of eliminating the tolls." The reviews have not been made public.

Sullivan, in a letter to John Cogliano, whom Romney named chairman of the authority's board, said the toll plan would force huge toll increases on the eastern section of the turnpike and tunnels to make up for lost revenue. He also warned that it would increase traffic beyond the turnpike's capacity and pose potential safety risks for motorists unless ramps are adjusted to accommodate fast-moving vehicles. He said that the ride from Logan International Airport to Weston that now costs $5 would increase to $7.31 to cover the loss of toll revenue.

To retire the $199 million in bonds the Turnpike Authority still owes on the western part of the road, Romney proposed using the authority's $112 million in cash reserves and paying the balance by borrowing $87 million against the value of turnpike service plazas or selling them. But Sullivan said the authority's outside legal counsel has advised that state law prohibits using reserves or service-area revenues to cover the debt.

Sullivan also pointed out that it would cost $37 million to raze the tollbooths. "The elimination of the western turnpike tolls would create an inordinate and painful financial burden for the vast majority of the motoring public," Sullivan wrote.

He called on Cogliano to make public the studies that the board had commissioned. "The breadth of undisclosed information about this project is alarming," he said in his letter.

Fehrnstrom and Trimarco argued that most of the objections to the toll plan are coming from vested interests, including the unions representing the authority's workers and others who profit from turnpike patronage and contracts. Fehrnstrom chided the Democrats, alluding to Patrick and his contention that his election as governor last week would bring change to state government.

"We just had an election, but it seems the real change agent on Beacon Hill is the person who's been fighting to clean up Beacon Hill for the past four years, Mitt Romney," Fehrnstrom said. "He's going out the same way he came in, an outsider who is battling on spending and fighting to merge the Turnpike Authority."

"This is all about protecting patronage, and the inspector general is no different than the rest of the State House crowd," he added.

The governor has argued that removing the toll booths is a matter of fairness for commuters from the western suburbs. He said the turnpike system is overstaffed, with overpaid and inefficient toll takers, and that laying off about half of the 400 collectors would save $40 million a year. But his critics say he is posturing for his potential presidential run.

Trimarco said his colleagues on the Turnpike Authority board would not take a definitive vote on the issue for at least 30 to 60 days.

"We're not rushing anything through," Trimarco said. "No one should interpret there is a rush to get this done by the end of the year. That implies a political motivation, and there is none."

The findings of the legal and engineering specialists will be presented to the authority board behind closed doors, according to Jon Carlisle, Cogliano's spokesman. He said the board can meet secretly, because it is dealing with personnel issues and land transactions, which exempt it from the state's Open Meeting Law. He said last night that it was unclear what will be presented publicly.

Later in the day, a special state commission that is reviewing the financing of the Commonwealth's transportation needs will meet to consider what several members say is a nearly $16 billion shortfall in funding of the repair and expansion of the state's transportation system. Commission members are considering expanding the toll system, including reinstituting tolls on the westernmost portion of the Pike that were eliminated under Governor William F. Weld in the 1990s. Another proposal would call for a 6-cent-per-gallon hike in the state gas tax.