Local motorists ready to grin and bear gas tax versus toll hikes

LYNN – The drive to increase Massachusetts’ gas tax is gaining momentum on Beacon Hill, with Gov. Deval Patrick saying the tax hike could be a “serious alternative” to dramatic toll increases on the Massachusetts Turnpike and tunnels.Locally, residents seem to prefer the gas tax over proposed toll increases.Gebiel Ribeiro spends $60 on gas as part of the expenses he incurs running a cleaning business. He would rather not spend additional money on a gas tax but he will if the choice comes down to a tax versus toll hike.Fabiola Cordano spends about half that much a week but shares Ribeiro’s viewpoint.”I don’t use the tolls that often anyway,” she said.Ryan Whitworth is a frequent commuter but his preference for a gas tax hike over a toll increase reflects his belief that a gas tax boost will encourage development of alternative energy technology.Angel Fagundo thinks fairness should be the watchword as state officials from Patrick down weigh the merits of a hike in the gas tax versus toll hikes. He knows a toll increase from $3.50 to $7 will hit North Shore commuters hard. Still, he would rather not see the $30 to $50 he spends a week on gas increase.In comments made online and to reporters outside his office Monday, Patrick outlined a set of three conditions under which a gas tax hike would be acceptable to him – although he did not say exactly how much the increase should be.First, Patrick said, the gas tax would have to be high enough not just to avoid the latest round of Turnpike toll hikes, but to remove the toll booths altogether or avoid other dramatic toll increases in the future.”If all we are talking about is a gas tax that enables us to avoid this round of toll increases, we’re just asking people to pay more money for the status quo,” he said.Patrick said any extra gas tax revenues should be dedicated solely for transportation needs, including putting the MBTA on more solid financial footing, “so it doesn’t get diverted to some other good idea that comes along later.”He also said any increase in the gas tax should also be part of a larger transportation reform effort designed to simplify and consolidate the state’s various transportation agencies.”If the gas tax has a role in making that all work and we can get consensus in the building then we may be there, but we’ll have to see,” Patrick said.The administration has already floated one plan to dismantle the Turnpike Authority.The plan would eliminate tolls west of Route 128 except at two state border crossings, raise tolls closer to Boston to pay off Big Dig debt and turn over operations of the Turnpike within Route 128, the so-called Metropolitan Highway System, to the Massachusetts Port Authority.Consensus behind a gas tax hike appears to be growing.In November, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi endorsed the idea of raising the gas tax, calling it “a fairer way to share our costs” than nearly doubling tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike and the tunnels leading to Logan International Airport.DiMasi echoed those comments Monday.”I think a gas tax is necessary instead of tolls and I understand that the governor said something similar today so hopefully we’re riding in the same car now,” DiMasi said.The current state gas tax of 23.5 cents a gallon has not changed since 1991. The national average is 30 cents.Part of the momentum driving talk of a gas tax hike is the proposal to dramatically increase tolls.The Turnpike board voted in November to nearly double most tolls – from $3.50 in Boston tunnels to $7, for example – to generate about $100 million in additional annual revenue to cover the pike’s debt, most of it related to the Big Dig.A final vote is needed before the tolls take effect.Opponents of the toll increase have ramped up pressure on lawmakers, arguing that the gas tax is a fairer way to spread out the cost of the Big Dig rather than saddling Turnpike drivers with skyrocketing tolls.Turnpike board member Mary Connaughton said any gas tax hike should go hand-in-h