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Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Deal to send close to $4B from NJ Turnpike to NJ Transit criticized for lack of transparency - NJ.com

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A landmark agreement was unanimously approved Tuesday to send $3.57 billion over the next seven years from the NJ Turnpike Authority to NJ Transit to help cover its operating costs.

Both supporters and opponents criticized the authority for not making details of the memo of understanding agreement public before the meeting so they could make informed comments. The agenda only listed it as a “State Public Transportation Projects Funding Agreement with the Treasurer of the State of New Jersey.”

“We’re supportive of the MOU, it’s hard to say how supportive we would be, because the MOU is not publicly available,” said David Pringle of Clean Water Action. “We’d suggest moving forward, you provide documents like this, so we can have informed public comment, rather than checking a box that said you had public comment, because you were required to.”

The board approved an agreement to send higher annual payments to NJ Transit as part of the toll increase package approved last May that took effect on Sept. 13, said John Keller, authority executive director. Under a five-year agreement approved in 2016, the authority sent a total of $616 million to NJ Transit for its operating budget.

That changes on July 1, when the Turnpike pays NJ Transit a total of $350 million in fiscal year 2022, $746 million in fiscal year 2023; $465 million in fiscal year 2024; $480 million in fiscal year 2025; $495 million in fiscal year 2026; $510 million in fiscal year 2027 and $525 million in fiscal year 2028.

Deducted from the quarterly payments will be how much NJ Transit would have owed the authority in tolls. Under projected budgets sent to the state from NJ Transit, the turnpike money will increase as state general fund subsidies to NJ Transit declines.

The details should have been made public at least one to two months earlier, said Steve Carellas, National Motorist’s Association state government and public policy director, who asked the board to delay voting.

“From the public’s perspective, we are hearing about this from news accounts concerning NJ Transit last month and from a state budget hearing last week,” he said. “As to the actual agreement, with all the details regarding the exact amounts and terms and conditions, why didn’t we hear about this earlier from the Authority?”

Carrellas urged the board to delay voting on the agreement until a complete assessment of the “true risks and benefits to the Authority” would be.

“We would like to know what the probability of an unexpected toll increase would be among other things,” he said. “And then seek feedback from stakeholders.”

A provision in the agreement said the NJ Transit payments are subordinate to payments required to be made on outstanding Turnpike Authority bonds.

Under “bond covenants” with investors, if the turnpike fails to earn enough revenue to make those payments, an automatic toll increase can be triggered to meet that obligation. The authority’s CFO updates the board monthly on revenues.

Last week, Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierez-Scaccetti, who chairs the turnpike board, defended the action because it improves the transit system, prompting more people to use it and reduces car traffic, to allow more trucks to use the toll highways to deliver goods.

In the agreement, Turnpike officials justified it by saying a failure of one component of the state transportation system overburdens another. Problems with NJ Transit service “causes increased traffic on Authority roadways that, in turn, increases not only travel time, but the Authority’s operational costs and need for roadway expansion,” wrote Ann Christine Monica, Authority Acting Law Director.

“We’ve heard the DOT Commissioner justify this subsidy to NJ Transit to help take cars off the road. That tired old trope has been foisted on the public for decades and is seldom if ever true,” Carellas said. With the pandemic forever changing our world, you can’t count on transit rebounding any time soon and reaching pre-pandemic ridership levels.”

Other speakers endorsed the move and said the authority should send more money to NJ Transit quicker. Some suggested the authority should abandon highway widenings proposed in the agency’s long range capital plan that was approved last year.

Many cited concerns about increased air pollution, congestion and the effect of proposed Parkway and Turnpike widenings on residents of towns in the denser northern part of the state, that includes economically and socially disadvantaged communities.

“I have an interest in all working well,” said William Griffith who said he drives on the Parkway and Turnpike and rides NJ Transit. “If you build it, they will come…I oppose highway expansion. People who live near the Parkway and Turnpike suffer from higher (rates of) asthma and lung disease.”

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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.

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April 28, 2021 at 12:11AM
https://www.nj.com/news/2021/04/deal-to-send-close-to-4b-from-nj-turnpike-to-nj-transit-criticized-for-lack-of-transparency.html

Deal to send close to $4B from NJ Turnpike to NJ Transit criticized for lack of transparency - NJ.com

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