Will toll increases really be repealed?

LYNN – Ed Hutchinson would prefer to pay a toll increase instead of a hike in the gasoline tax, but state officials may have just taken that choice out of his hands.The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board voted 4-1 Tuesday to hike tolls, including ones on the tunnels used by North Shore commuters, in March, then July. The board pledged to reverse the hikes if state legislators agree on a gas tax hike as part of a state transportation reform package.Bill Tallent is skeptical, to say the least, about this promise and thinks a gas tax hike will land a harder punch than the toll increase.”A gas tax is a much bigger grab,” he said.The turnpike board increase calls for a two-tiered toll increase, the first stage taking effect March 29 and the second slated for July 1.Under the first stage, cash tolls at the tunnels would climb to $5.50, up from $3.50. On July 1, unless the policies are repealed, tolls would hit $7 at the two tunnels.For Carol Cuevas, who pays $100 a month in tolls to commute back and forth to her job in Allston, the hike means a direct hit to her wallet. She is hoping the board keeps its promise but several state legislators said the board’s vote threatens Gov. Deval Patrick’s quest for a transportation overhaul package that includes a 19 cent-per-gallon increase to the 23.5 cent-per gallon gas tax, reduced personnel and benefits in the transportation bureaucracy and other new costs for motorists.Rep. Steven Walsh, a Lynn Democrat, says the Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, which he is co-chairman of, was likely to call for the Turnpike to open its finances to lawmakers, and Rep. David P. Linsky, newly appointed chairman of the House Post Audit Committee, said he had already threatened Pike officials with a subpoena.”I think in terms of process, it’s unfortunate that we were denied an opportunity for public comment, which I specifically requested of the secretary,” Walsh said, adding, “The secretary didn’t have an opportunity to participate in the public hearings, so really didn’t get a flavor of what this would do to the working families of the North Shore. This is really the North Shore anti-recovery package. This is really a de-stimulus.”The Turnpike is carrying $2.2 billion in debt from the Big Dig project. Patrick’s proposed gas tax hike, part of an effort to help the state dig out of a funding deficit pegged close to $20 billion over 20 years just to maintain infrastructure, would drive Massachusetts to a national high in fuel levies. Without the toll hike, administration officials said, the Pike’s bonds would be downgraded to junk status, driving up borrowing costs and potentially endangering the commonwealth’s own strong credit rating.The governor last Friday said he’d insist on passage of reforms and revenues to reverse toll increases.Tuesday’s Pike board meeting featured a series of testy exchanges between Transportation Secretary James Aloisi, a Patrick appointee who is chairman of the board, and Romney appointee and board member Mary Connaughton.”Don’t point at me,” Aloisi said at one point.The toll hikes were approved despite strong opposition to the increases voiced at a series of public hearings. While critics of the toll increases say the government is foisting unaffordable new costs on drivers, supporters say the new toll revenues are necessary to pay turnpike bills, including debt service tied to the Big Dig project.Patrick outlined planned legislation last Friday that features a 19-cent-per-gallon gas increase coupled with efficiency-minded operational changes throughout the transportation bureaucracy.Legislative leaders on Friday gave Patrick’s ideas a relatively warm welcome but on Monday night the chairmen of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee questioned support for the gas tax hike amongst lawmakers.Aloisi denied the agency was blackmailing the Legislature into approving the gas tax, calling the plan comprehensive and calling for alternative solutions.”When