Drivers skeptical about sales tax increase ending toll hike talk

LYNN – Two North Shore legislators hope the sales tax hike they voted for this week will help stall or eliminate the need for tunnel and bridge toll increases poised to hit drivers like Barbara Cote in the pocket book.
With her company preparing to move to Boston, Cote is poised to join the ranks of North Shore commuters who pay daily tolls to get into the city.
She is not overly optimistic about the prospect of state officials holding off on a doubling of the $3.50 tolls now that an estimated $900 million in additional tax dollars will begin flowing in from the sales tax hike.
State representatives Kathi-Anne Reinstein and Joyce Spiliotis are less pessimistic and hope the Massachusetts House vote dedicating part of the added sales tax revenue to the state’s transportation needs will end toll hike talk.
State Rep. Robert Fennell voted against the sales tax hike but the Capitol Diner owner joined state Rep. Steven Walsh earlier this month in endorsing transportation reforms built around combining state transportation agencies into one department.
“This is a major fundamental overhaul with the intention of making meaningful cost savings reform measures before we look at any type of revenue increases. We hope to eliminate duplicate services and do away with wasteful spending, while creating a more streamlined transit system,” Fennell said.
The bill would also establish an Office of Taxpayer Advocacy that would monitor the quality, efficiency and integrity of the Authority as well as detect and prevent fraud and abuse within the system.
“I am pleased that with this reform package we were able to alleviate any need for toll increases that would affect Lynn, the North Shore and Metro West communities,” Walsh said.
The new legislation organizes the Department of Transportation allowing it to function as a single state agency. It establishes a new independent state transportation authority that merges the MBTA and the MassHighway Department, called the Massachusetts Transportation and Infrastructure Authority (MTIA).
It would transfer the Massachusetts turnpike authority’s functions, assets, liabilities, and obligations, the Tobin Bridge currently owned and operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority, and the vehicular bridges and other highway structures under the control of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, to the new Massachusetts Transportation and Infrastructure Authority.