State House Republican Minority Leader Themis Klarides and Rep. Christopher Davis, ranking member of the Finance Revenue and Bonding Committee, jointly issued an open letter to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy July 19 opposing his proposed use of taxpayer dollars to fund a study of tolls in the state.
The two Republicans noted in their letter that the General Assembly has been unable to garner enough votes to allow tolls back into Connecticut.
“As you well know, the composition of the General Assembly and the governor’s office will be different in a few short months. The planning and preparation for tolls as described in your recent executive order, including environmental analysis, implies that the return of tolls is inevitable. The reality is that the coming election casts even greater doubt on the likelihood of tolls gaining sufficient support,” the letter reads.
Malloy, a Democrat and frequent advocate of bringing tolls back to replenish the state’s ailing Special Transportation Fund, is proposing to seek a $10 million bond allocation for the study at the next State Bond Commission meeting on July 25.
The letter argues that spending the money without approval from the legislature “is a blatant circumvention of our Democratic process. It is also a complete waste of money that could be used to actually improve roads, fix bridges, and, generally, to address our transportation infrastructure needs – an undertaking that is supported by the legislature as a whole.”
“We know that tolls cannot legally be implemented solely at our state borders to catch non-resident travelers,” the letter continues. “Tolls will be spread throughout the state, impacting every commuter and costing residents hundreds of millions of dollars. For us, as Republicans, that is enough to know that we need to find another way to pay for the necessary improvements in our transportation infrastructure. Fortunately, as you are well aware, we have developed an alternative to tolls. We have shared all of the details of our plan with you and your fellow Democrats. The concept is fairly simple: Under your administration, general obligation borrowing has increased dramatically. Our plan would take the recent increased funding for general purposes and, instead, dedicate the funding to cover the cost of transportation borrowing.”
The letter concludes by saying that Republicans have begun a petition to bring the legislature in for a special session should the Bond Commission approve the toll study, and asking Democrats to join them in signing the petition.