“Connecticut already taxes too much, and this is just another tax. It’s unfair.”

A long line of speakers agreed the transportation network needs plenty of improvements, but virtually nobody – not truckers, commuters, border-town residents or others – is interested in paying more.

Lobbyists and lawmakers dominated the debate, but one resident – retired dentist Bob Hall of West Hartford – showed up to endorse tolls.

“Is this going to be popular? Of course not,” Hall told the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee. “But Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maine – they all have toll roads. I’ve long wondered why I’m going through Connecticut and in Massachusetts I come to a toll gate.”

Hall dismissed the argument that tolls are just a disguised tax, and said there’s a pressing need for revenue.

State Rep. Antonio Guerrera On Tolls
State Rep. Antonio Guerrera of the Transportation Committee reacts to a report by the Office of Policy and Management on transportation revenues.
“I consider this a user fee,” he said. “I’m concerned the money is running out and we can’t maintain our infrastructure.”

Connecticut hasn’t charged tolls in more than two decades, and opponents insist that state motorists will be furious if they’re brought back. Toll proponents say transportation safety is at risk if bridges and highways continue deteriorating faster than the state maintains them.

The committee will decide in March whether to advance a toll proposal to the full General Assembly. Some Democrats endorse the idea, but others – and the vast majority of Republicans – have been leaning against it.

Supporters believe they gained ground last week when the state budget office predicted the Special Transportation Fund will run out of money in about three years. Afterward, several Republican lawmakers indicated they might be open to some compromise for raising new revenues.

“The sins of our fathers are catching up to us. We keep kicking the can down the road,” Rep. Tom O’Dea, R-New Canaan, said Monday.

He said he’d oppose tolls unless there’s some offset – such as a steep reduction in the gas tax – to benefit Connecticut residents.

“The only people paying the gas tax are Connecticut residents,” said O’Dea, who said out-of-state drivers are getting a free ride on state highways.

O’Dea and others appeared drawn by the prospect of getting money from through traffic.

Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker countered that Connecticut people who commute on the highways would be hit with a new expense. He and other western Connecticut speakers said they’re adamantly against border tolls that would hit their communities but not the rest of the state.

“I have 1,500 to 2,000 commutes who cross the state line daily to get to work. They’re young working people – I’m deeply concerned about the equity,” he said.

None of the current toll proposals mention border towns, and instead focus on variable-price congestion tolling – a system with locations most likely in Fairfield County and Greater Hartford.

Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi endorsed tolls, and suggested a state income tax credit to offset the cost for Connecticut commuters. Overall, tolls amount to a fair fee on highway users, he said.

“You’re going to pay to ride the train, pay to fly in a plane – you need to pay to use our roads,” Marconi said. “We’re at the point where layoffs have taken place and we still have a $1.5 billion, $1.7 billion deficit. We cannot cut our way out of this. We have to generate revenues.”