Republican ‘Prioritize Progress’ a better state transportation plan than tolls

March 12, 2019

Letter to the Editor by State Senator Len Fasano as it appeared in the New London Day.

The Day is entitled to its own opinion on tolls, but relying on false Democrat talking points to dismiss an alternative idea is irresponsible.

The Day’s editorial, “Why tolls are best option for Connecticut,” is wrong. The Republican “Prioritize Progress” plan does not create new bonding or worsen the state’s debt situation. Our plan works within the state’s brand new bond cap to cut back on borrowing and redirect existing bonding away from political handouts to instead be used for transportation. At the same time it protects bonding for necessities, including school construction, clean water grants, and housing programs. It leverages federal reimbursements to make a historic commitment to transportation without tolls or new taxes.

The Republican plan would result in less borrowing than the governor’s half-baked tolls vision. While the governor has not even offered a real plan, and has still not answered basic questions such as how much residents will pay for his mileage tax (a.k.a. tolls) and where gantries will be located, we do know his vision relies on borrowing to install tolls and would use toll revenue to back even more bonding because transportation projects aren’t paid for with cash up front.

Bonding can be an appropriate tool for capital improvements such as transportation. But Connecticut also needs to reduce its borrowing. The only plan that guarantees that will happen is Prioritize Progress. It’s the only plan that allows our state to get to work on our roads and bridges today, while the governor is busy stealing transportation dollars to balance his budget and delaying improvements since tolls can’t go up for at least five years, if not longer.

We need to make transportation a priority, but we can and should do so without taking any more from taxpayers.