Plaintiffs count Big Dig a burden
Turnpike users cite $442m tolls
Massachusetts Turnpike commuters have paid $442 million in tolls to cover Big Dig expenses over the past three years, according to a financial analyst hired as part of a class action lawsuit against the Turnpike Authority.
Commuters, politicians, and state officials have long argued that tolls collected on the turnpike have been used to pay off unrelated portions of the $15 billion project, amounting to a back-door tax that unfairly burdens one segment of the public.
The analysis by Babson College finance professor Mark Potter comes closest to assigning a dollar figure to that burden, and it is likely to feed the political debate surrounding the toll road's future.
Attorneys representing about 1,700 toll payers seeking to collect damages against the authority say they plan to file the analysis in Middlesex Superior Court today, as part of a hearing to evaluate turnpike assets in an attempt to prevent the authority from liquidating them.
Potter's analysis, obtained by the Globe last night, has not been reviewed by an outside party or by the authority.
Turnpike authority spokesman Colin Durrant said the agency would not comment on the analysis because it is part of pending litigation.
Potter said he did not have access to internal turnpike documents that would show details of spending on operations and maintenance in Greater Boston. Instead, he depended on budget documents that show where the agency's revenues come from, and then he estimated how they were spent, based on the value assigned to roads by turnpike officials.
Tolls account for 86 percent of the authority's revenue stream in Greater Boston, but non-tolled roads account for 72 percent of the system's value, according to Potter's analysis.
"This is really important because it's based on information that they've not shared with the public, so people have not been able to make these calculations," said Jan Schlichtmann, lead attorney representing the plaintiffs.
The authority assumed close to $2 billion in Big Dig debt beginning in 1997 as the megaproject under downtown Boston was looking for a stable asset that had capacity to borrow money. Since then, the debt has left the authority close to insolvency and forced politically difficult decisions about toll increases, including one that could take effect next month that would double tunnel tolls and raise them substantially in Greater Boston.
The Legislature is finalizing a plan that would use some of the money from an expected 25 percent sales tax increase to provide the authority with $100 million to cover debt and operating expenses in order to avoid next month's toll hike. At the same time, the Legislature is negotiating the final elements of a bill to eliminate the authority, as part of a larger reorganization of state agencies.
The turnpike authority conducted its own "toll equity study" last year, but never released a final report as the agency's financial condition deteriorated significantly and debate within the authority's board became increasingly contentious.
Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com. 