ALBANY - The state Thruway Authority is expected to vote Friday on a new round of toll hikes that would start this summer.
The plan is to phase in a pair of 5 percent hikes for those paying cash at the toll booths and what amounts to an increase as high as 28 percent for some drivers who use the EZ-Pass electronic toll collecting system.
The hikes would begin in July and continue through January 2010. They would come on top of a 10 percent increase that took effect this year.
Thruway managers say the increases are needed because too few drivers have been paying to use the 641-mile superhighway to cover the cost of a $2.1 billion highway and bridge repair plan. They expect the toll increases to raise $375 million through 2011.
Since Thruway officials floated the toll hike plan in November, there has been an outcry across the state and among lawmakers in Albany, many of them arguing that raising tolls could squelch an already slowing upstate economy.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli also released an audit last winter urging the Thruway Authority to call off the increases and instead carefully review its finances for ways to cut costs.
DiNapoli reiterated that position Thursday.
“Transportation costs are driving up the price of everything from flour and milk to lumber and sheetrock,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “The last thing New Yorkers need now is another tax increase disguised as a toll hike.”
Some of the Thruway Authority's board members say they've been frustrated by the public pressure to nix the hikes.
Neither the Legislature nor the governor control the agency, which was created to be independent and is funded primarily through toll collections. But board members complain that the state has saddled the agency with additional costs.
They point in particular to the state's Canal Corp. - which the Legislature folded into the Thruway Authority in 1992. DiNapoli's audit found the canal system will account for $395 million in costs through 2012.
Kevin Plunkett, a Thruway Authority board member from the Hudson Valley, said he's reviewed all of the analysis and heard all the arguments and plans to vote in favor of the toll hikes.
“With the burden of the Canal Corporation's budget and the capital improvements that are necessary on the bridges and roadways, these adjustments are warranted,” he said.
Buffalo-area board member Jeffrey Williams said he plans to vote against the increases, which he believes would force the Legislature and the Thruway Authority to work together on the issue.
“It wouldn't compromise public safety because we'd shift our priorities in the Thruway Authority and live within our means,” Williams said. “People find creative solutions when they're cash strapped, and I haven't seen a creative solution yet.”
The hikes would begin in July and continue through January 2010. They would come on top of a 10 percent increase that took effect this year.
Thruway managers say the increases are needed because too few drivers have been paying to use the 641-mile superhighway to cover the cost of a $2.1 billion highway and bridge repair plan. They expect the toll increases to raise $375 million through 2011.
Since Thruway officials floated the toll hike plan in November, there has been an outcry across the state and among lawmakers in Albany, many of them arguing that raising tolls could squelch an already slowing upstate economy.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli also released an audit last winter urging the Thruway Authority to call off the increases and instead carefully review its finances for ways to cut costs.
DiNapoli reiterated that position Thursday.
“Transportation costs are driving up the price of everything from flour and milk to lumber and sheetrock,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “The last thing New Yorkers need now is another tax increase disguised as a toll hike.”
Some of the Thruway Authority's board members say they've been frustrated by the public pressure to nix the hikes.
Neither the Legislature nor the governor control the agency, which was created to be independent and is funded primarily through toll collections. But board members complain that the state has saddled the agency with additional costs.
They point in particular to the state's Canal Corp. - which the Legislature folded into the Thruway Authority in 1992. DiNapoli's audit found the canal system will account for $395 million in costs through 2012.
Kevin Plunkett, a Thruway Authority board member from the Hudson Valley, said he's reviewed all of the analysis and heard all the arguments and plans to vote in favor of the toll hikes.
“With the burden of the Canal Corporation's budget and the capital improvements that are necessary on the bridges and roadways, these adjustments are warranted,” he said.
Buffalo-area board member Jeffrey Williams said he plans to vote against the increases, which he believes would force the Legislature and the Thruway Authority to work together on the issue.
“It wouldn't compromise public safety because we'd shift our priorities in the Thruway Authority and live within our means,” Williams said. “People find creative solutions when they're cash strapped, and I haven't seen a creative solution yet.”
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