Editorial: Thruway OK's budget; nary a peep about tolls

A Journal News editorial

The Hudson River bustles on Wednesday as a new Tappan Zee Bridge rises. Although Thruway officials have said the cost of the project will be covered by tolls on the span, there’s been no word about toll increases.

The New York State Thruway Authority board met on Friday and passed its 2015 budget. The board didn't even whisper about a $36 million hole in the spending plan for next year; nary a word was wasted on toll increases. And not a peep was uttered about the overall plan for paying for the $3.9 billion New NY Bridge.

As the replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge rises in the Hudson River, a full financial plan remains hidden from public view; a Tolls and Financing Task Force, promised by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2012, is yet unformed; and inevitable toll increases are cloaked amid such secrecy.

Who pays?

This is not just a concern for downstate drivers. Thruway officials have repeatedly stated that the cost of building a new Tappan Zee Bridge would be covered by tolls on the span, not systemwide. But the Rockland-to-Westchester crossing has long supplemented Thruway coffers. So drivers upstate can expect to pay more, too.

When? How much? Not a word from the Thruway Authority leadership or board. And only vague theoretical discussions from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who revived a stalled decade-plus plan to replace the overtaxed, undersecure Tappan Zee as a symbol of New York's revival.

Cuomo recently hinted that the state could aid the Thruway, as it did last year by taking Thruway police operations off the agency's books, and thereby ease the pressure to raise tolls. A toll "is what you want it to be," Cuomo said, as he explained that the government can provide some sort of subsidy. There's been much speculation that Cuomo could tap part of a recent $5 billion financial settlement windfall to help pay for the new bridge.

Why the mystery?

During Friday's Thruway board meeting, the only substantive discussion — prior to public comments — came from a board member who questioned the Thruway's plan to lease a sliver of land for access to a historic site off the highway. History, he said, was not in the authority's mission. It took a bit of convincing, but other board members assured him that the expenditure fit with the Thruway's safety mission, because it could help get fatigued drivers to take a break.

Yet, when asked to vote on an out-of-whack budget, not a single Thruway official queried about the disconnect.

Taking nothing away from the importance of New York's canal system, or highway safety, every person invested in the New York State Thruway system — pretty much every New Yorker — should be appalled.

Why the continued lack of transparency by the Thruway when it comes to future toll increases? And why the mystery about the inextricably linked financing plan for the new Rockland-to-Westchester crossing?