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October 17, 2019

ETA on Lamont transportation plan is TBD

HBJ File Photo A Metro-North Railroad train in New Haven.

Gov. Ned Lamont dropped a few more breadcrumbs Wednesday on the path he hopes lawmakers are following to his eventual presentation of CT 2030, a plan for spending about $20 billion over the next decade to speed Metro-North trains and ease highway congestion.

The administration gave the Wall Street Journal, a favorite of many commuters who ride the rails, these tidbits: $5 billion will be spent on Metro-North to buy 100 rail cars, replace three century-old bridges and add express service on the Waterbury line.

The new talking point aimed at Fairfield County lawmakers: CT 2030 could produce the first improvements in Metro-North commuter times in a generation, perhaps saving as much as 15 minutes on the ride from New Haven into Grand Central.

Since early September, when his chief of staff shared a basic outline of Lamont’s transportation reboot, the governor has dropped a detail here and a detail there, all while his staff continue to hone the plan and crunch the numbers on cost and financing.

So, when will the final reveal come?

Lamont hedged.

“We’re talking to the legislative leadership every day,” Lamont told reporters. “I just don’t want to get ahead of myself. I want to make sure when we roll this out we have as many people on board as we can.”

Lamont said the administration is making changes based on feedback from lawmakers.

“We briefed everybody, and we’re going to refine that proposal yet again,” Lamont said.

Lamont is visiting New York City on Thursday to meet with the governors of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to talk about a common regulatory structure for vaping and, if it is ever legalized in Connecticut, recreational marijuana.

Then attention will return to transportation.

The administration fumbled its initial proposal in February, publishing it in an op-ed that outlined a transportation revenue plan built on a comprehensive system of highway tolls on the Merritt Parkway and Interstates 84, 91 and 95. It fell flat.

Democratic legislative leaders refused to schedule a vote on his plan in either chamber.

The new strategy is to make the case for restoring Connecticut’s highways, bridges and rail system to a state of good repair, then talk about the new revenue necessary to make the plan a reality. Lamont now talks about “user fees,” which most likely will include tolls on a dozen bridges.

Even without transportation enhancements, the state’s special transportation fund is approaching insolvency. The state spends $1.6 billion annually on transportation expenses, which includes $680 million on transportation debt service, $366 million on bus and rail, $290 million on the Department of Transportation and $65.4 million on the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Taxes on motor fuels and oil companies raise $806 million a year for the special transportation fund, about half of what is necessary. The rest comes from sales taxes, motor vehicle receipts and fees.

On Sept. 20, offices from the Build America Bureau of the U.S. Department of Transportation briefed leaders on what they say is a flexible menu of available low-cost credit — less than 2% for highway loans that come with a repayment period of 35 years. 

“We have to get in line for it,” Lamont said Wednesday. “They don’t just automatically give it to us.”

Lamont said the state also must identify a revenue stream to pay for it.

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2 Comments

Anonymous
October 18, 2019

The elephant in the room is spending! CT spends too much, Period!

We have reached the inflection point on Taxation, as you tax more you get less as People (Rich) and Businesses chose from the 48 lower cost states. A Tolls Tax will decimate those working paycheck to paycheck! Secondly, how many more will leave CT due to a Tolls Tax?

CT #2 in Taxes is nothing to be proud of, same as #49th Economy is shameful. The fact that CT was the #1 economy, and is now #49 should be unfathomable! How did CT get so bad?

If the Transportation issue was important to Ned's administration, then why did they Divert $170,000,000 from the STF this year? The STF is now short over $1 Billion, that's Taxes WE paid that did not go to the Roads and Bridges. Mismanagement at its finest!

Taxpayers will be asked to pay again?
NO, spending cuts FIRST!

Anonymous
October 17, 2019

If the Gov and Legislators are really serious this time and want the support of the voters which will get them the support of the Legislators - these are the steps that MUST be included in any deal -
1. Fix the Swiss cheese lockbox to included removing pensions and other costs shifted into the STF fund along with the only way the lockbox can be changed is thru voter referendum. This includes the age old trick of shifting expenses back in when budget issues come up!

2. Eliminate the Hidden Gas Tax called the Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) to not do this does noting to repay the voters who have paid 100% of the cost so far, out of state drives paid zero. If not removed then the Gov. and Legislators are still proving that charging a tax for one thing, then eliminate the purpose of the tax, but continue to collect the tax to pay other expenses is still alive and well.

3. Ct Residents will pay less for tolls then out of state drivers - this again repays those tax payers who have been paying, got ROBBED thru continued mismanagement of the States Budgets and the raiding of funds takes place after the mismanagement.

Michael J. Fox
Executive Director
Gasoline & Automotive Service Dealers of America, Inc.

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