From the office of Del. Kathy Szeliga:
The leadership in Maryland is getting ready to raise the tolls we pay along the highways in Maryland. The proposed increases were made public last week.
I am opposed to increasing tolls in Maryland.
To see what the State is proposing, you can go to this link:
Many of you commute through one of the tunnels or you use the Fort McHenry Tunnel to go downtown to an Orioles or Ravens game or downtown for fun. The current cash rate is $2.00 each way/$4.00 round trip. If the toll increases pass, the phased in cash rate will be $4.00 each way/$8.00 round trip!! The commuter rates will more than triple for passenger vehicles when fully phased in.
The MDTA has information on their website with details on increases, comment period and who to contact:
http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Increase/Home.html
I have already sent my letter to the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation urging her to not raise our tolls. Following is an overview of the letter I sent to MDOT Secretary Swaim-Staley:
“On behalf of the citizens of Maryland’s 7th Legislative District, I would like to express my strongest opposition to the toll increases proposed last week. …. I will work with you to find solutions to funding our roads and highways without raising fees and taxes. …. Marylanders simply cannot afford to pay additional fees and taxes today.”
What can you do?
Click on the link below and submit your comments. It only takes a few minutes:
Please do not delay.
You can also attend a hearing listed on the MDTA link above.
Even if you do not use any of the toll facilities in Maryland, the cost of goods will go up for everyone. Commercial vehicles that deliver your goods and services will have to pass these additional costs on to consumers. Businesses are running on a lean mean budget today and there is not room to absorb these additional fees. You and I will pay them either directly or indirectly.
Thanks for staying involved!
Kathy
Delegate Kathy Szeliga
Now that’s an informative and respectable press release. +1 for the Delegate’s office
Please post your solutions for funding our infrastructure WITHOUT raising taxes or tolls.
Our past governors and their lackys in the General Ass embly have raided the Trans. Trust Fund to balance the budget and pay for their reckless spending. Now they want to tax us some more and its a lot easier to raise taxes/fees if you tell the serfs(us) that the money is needed for the infastructure rather than giving freebees to illegals,building windmills,etc.The solution is simple. Cut ALL government spending by 10% for a few years, leave the TTF alone and there will be pleanty of money to take care of the roads & bridges.We the citizens may even be allowed to keep a little more of our hard earned money.
Raiding the Transportation in the past was wrong. However,this is not an excuse for not keeping up the toll roads. Kathy Szeliga shows how stupid some of our elected officials are.
Notice she does not give any method of keeping up the toll roads without a toll increase. What will happen when the toll roads can not longer be used?
Kathy since you are reading this eamil, please tell us how to keep up the road with the present tolls. You know the toll roads cannot continue with the current level of funding.
This is an example of a person who keeps getting elected by being a rabble rouser.
Perhaps Del. Szeliga can let us know how much the MD Transportation Authority collects each year in tolls and what their expenses are. If collections exceed expenses there is no need for a toll increase.
Here’s a link to the most recent report:
http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/About/documents/ARfin2010.pdf
Thanks LIBER-TY. Thats a great web site and page 49 clearly shows for fy 2010 income was FAR, FAR,FAR greater than expenses.Therefore, no need for a toll increase. Maybe a toll decrease? Two chances of that happening. Now if we can vote out the politicians who constantly spend,spend, spend we can get MD back on the right track.
Did you bother reading the underlying notes, or just looked at the revenues and expenses in a vacuum without trying to understand how the numbers were compiled? Approximately $242 million were inflows to the Department that were not likely to be repeated. After that there was a net surplus of only $25 million, which, given the cost of commodities related to highway reconstruction will likely get swallowed up this year.
In 2003, when Governor Bobby raised the tolls, the price for liquid asphalt, a major component of the cost of new roads or road improvements, was around $225 per liquid ton. Now it is over $600 per liquid ton. I wonder how this genius legislator proposes to deal with our road improvements when costs for a major component have almost tripled.
Governor Bobby… funny. Look, politicians suck. Career politicians swallow. Let’s just agree to that. No one is going to argue that increases to tolls aren’t necessary – it’s the AMOUNT they’re increasing the tolls that has most people upset. If a gallon of milk goes to 20 bucks tomorrow wouldn’t most people wonder what’s going on and who’s to blame? After all, if you go to the MTA website and read the “About MTA” that nice young Ralign T. Wells states:
“…we have also kept that focus on performance management strategies that have increased efficiency, saving Maryland taxpayers millions of dollars.”
Huh… saved us millions, but now they need to multiply the toll by 6 to make ends meet. I don’t want to pay for every project the MTA wants to do in Maryland just because I have to commute across the Hatem Bridge. I’d like to know how much Mr. Wells earns for his astounding incompetence – he probably can’t understand why people are so upset. So let’s see… I need a ezpass for my truck – 21 for the unit, 25 deposit, 18 per year to have it, and 36 to cross the bridge. That’s a nice round 100 bucks up front and recurring 54… until they jump it to 90. Is there someone in the MTA that thinks we’re all living high on the hog pulling in raises and bonuses (like them) so we can pay for this?
I would URGE EVERYONE to go to the MDTA website: http://mdta.force.com/publiccomment
and voice your opposition to the increases and elimination of the AVI stickers. If they don’t get responses, they’ll say it was unopposed. My comment was only number 1244. That’s not going to cut it.
Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) is an independent agency. It is not part of the Maryland Department of Transportation although its chair person is the Maryland Transportation Secretary, which brings its independence into question. Its members are appointed to a three year term by the governor and approved by the state senate, they are not elected.
MdTA is not a “budgeted agency”, that is the Maryland General Assembly does not provide funding. Primary source of funding is from toll revenues, not the Maryland Transportation Trust Fund. The Maryland General Assembly and the Transportation Trust Fund have both contributed to the Inter County Connector (ICC). It is debatable whether diverting Maryland Transportation Trust Funds into the General Fund would have affected the budget process of the MdTA. What is not debatable is the affect this transfer has had on Harford County roads. The $16M previously provided has been reduced to almost nothing.
Toll revenues and other income have not generally declined. In 2007 actual Toll revenue was $287M dollars. Toll revenue estimate for 2011 was $324M. Expenditures have risen significantly. Salaries, benefits and wages from 2007 to 2012 rose $30M.
The single biggest contributor to increased expenditures has been the Capital program. From 2007 it rose from $317M to an estimated $601M in 2012, a total of $284M. Debt service to cover this expansion rose from $24M to $88M.
The view from MdTA is that aging infrastructure required a massive infusion of capital to maintain those facilities in safe operating condition. This may be true, but without quantitative data from engineering inspections it cannot be verified. It does not seem probable that that some cosmic force caused all of these facilities to simultaneously fall into such a state of disrepair that they all required a massive infusion of capital, all at the same time, and that a better budget and schedule could not have been established. Additionally, the two largest projects are for new construction on the ICC and I-95. Could these projects have been deferred and scheduled better? Absolutely.
Why then did the MdTA choose to undertake such a massive construction effort? To provide better facilities? To improve safety? Maybe.
The more likely reason that they undertook these efforts was to stimulate the economy, to provide jobs. Has it worked? Who knows. It is clear however that Construction and Transportation are two major factors in this country’s economy. When the two are combined they can provide a powerful economic boost, albeit temporary.
At this point does MdTA require a Toll increase. Absolutely. They have created a situation that requires $70M more in revenue each year. Unfortunately, that will be only a down payment. As long as one of the objectives is to create jobs, MdTA will continue to increase expenditures.
The question posed earlier by Mr/Mrs/Ms Kim MCCarthy seeking solutions on how to pay for infrastructure should be reposed. The real question is do we need the infrastructure we are funding.
why do we need the infrastructure we are funding? Maybe because Maryland is a congested small state with a high density of citizens? Maybe because transportation studies show that there is a higher demand for roads, access and increased growth? Isn’t that what govt is suppossed to provide, that is a system that supports commerce, growth and increased economic activity? Mr. Mallamo, while you seem to be an intelligent fellow, you really do ask some of the most stupid questions I have ever read in the Dagger. Remember, the state of Maryland does not have the unlimited power of The Fed or the ability to borrow without a tax base such as the Federal govt. The users of the transportation system are the ones that should support its growth and maintenance, not the general tax fund which is not dedicated to provide for this service. What is wrong with the current system is that gas taxes suppossed to go to fund capital projects are being diverted to pay for operating expenses and not supporting the capital needs that it is suppossed to fund in the first place. You tea baggers need to get a clue and learn about how things work instead of complaining about TAXES all the time. I wish your Patriotic message would look out for America and I would support it, but instead you tea bagging idiots just support your own pocket and could care less if Maryland or America becomes a third rate transportation network which would in the end lead to less commerce, insdustry and jobs for our citizens. Self supporting fees for the generation of income and revenues to pay for things we need should be something your party should support, instead of painting all taxes as evil. Somewhere you guys forgot that living in this country takes some sacrifice from the tax payer to fund the things that are needed.
Are we there yet Frankly a Scumbagger?
Nemisis of Frankly a Scumbagger
Nemisis-put a sock in it.
Mr./Mrs./Ms Frankly Speaking
Thank your for the kind words regarding my intelligence. Most of my detractors would question your assessment. Miss Kathryn Ann would assure you that I do not pose my most stupid questions on the Dagger. Those questions are reserved for other forums.
You seem to be an enigma, wrapped in a conundrum, tied in a paradox. There is a smugness in the profound certitude you take in the correctness of the positions you espouse. Yet you do not post your thoughts under your own name. You excoriate others who do not hold your positions as if you were appointed by some higher authority as a guardian of the single truth. Yet you seem steeped in the democratic process. From your posting it does not appear that you will consider any position other than the one you espouse, but here is something for your consideration.
Like you I also believe that government should support economic growth. The tolls collected by the MdTA provide revenues to operate maintain and build facilities that should support the economy. I also believe that it is disgraceful that the Transportation Trust Fund has been diverted to other purposes. The result of this dieversion is that, in spite of the very competent people in the Harford County Highways and Water Resources Department, road improvements are tar and chip. Traffic control improvements are roundabouts. That is all the County can afford because the State has diverted the Counties share of the Maryland Transportation Trust Fund.
My disagreement with you is when the MdTA operation, maintenance, and construction efforts become the economy. Once that transition is made, there will never be enough toll revenue, toll rates will increase in frequency and dollar amount.
That is what is happening now. That is the issue with the toll increases. The point at which MdTA could have reduced expenditures, contained cost, and left the current toll schedule intact and still provide service is past. They must have $70M more revenue in 2012, and an as yet unspecified increase to revenue in 2014 and 2016. This situation occurred because MdTA took actions that were contrary to their principal purpose and mission. They allowed their program to become the economy, to attempt to boost a lagging economy not to support the economy. Net result is a requirement for more revenue for operation maintenance and construction, and an economy that is still lagging. They cannot generate more revenue by increasing usage, and it does not appear that they will reduce expenditures. Therefore, tolls will increase.
These hearing are largely perfunctory, and may meet legal requirements, but they will not change the outcome. Tolls will increase. The decision has already been made. At the very least the MdTA budget process, program structure and scheduling represent bad stewardship by the governing body. Their actions could also be a breech of fiduciary responsibility. This is from a body that is appointed, not elected and is accountable to nobody.
Contrary to your statements, Sir/Ma’am, I am really concerned about the State of Maryland and the United States of America. I cannot and do not speak for others, but I believe that they are, too. I will admit that I may not have as much knowledge of how the government works as you profess to have. What I do know about and as I learn more about government, the more dissatisfied I become with its activities.
I reject your premise that we should all get on the bus, sit down, shut up and enjoy the view while the government drives us off the cliff. I believe that the good people in Harrisburg, PA and Bell, CA wish that they had become more involved, earlier, in their government’s activities before it was too late. Democracy is not a spectator sport, government does not do better when citizens put it on cruise control. Citizens and residents must be involved and do more than just vote to make it work. Understandably some people, perhaps you, are very frightened by this thought.
Finally, here is a clue to you. There is a growing number of people who are dissatisfied with their government. It is more than just the residents of Harford County or the State of Maryland. Numbers are growing nationally and globally as well. People everywhere are fed up with government mischief. Some are taking more radical measures than others, but the purpose of all is the same – effect good governance, effective government and efficient operations. My advice to you is to drop your attitude and listen. You may not change your mind, but you will not be surprised when the bus runs you over.
Congratulations Mr. Mallamo! You have put into words the feelings and thoughts of so many. There are several contrarians who will attack the individual without addressing the issues on this blog. Your letter addresses one of the worst of those. Your short treatise addresses the very core of the toll problem. As you so succinctly point out, government is on cruise control and the citizens have to stand up and be counted. Unfortunately there are a huge number of voting citizens who have not yet learned to think for themselves, and continue to give us the type of governance under which we suffer.
Keep up the work of trying to educate and involve the masses, I lost hope a long time ago.
Mr. Mallamo and Mr. Yensen: The sky is not falling and America still a place people want to come to live and prosper, to borrow from Mr. Spock. But you guys are really out of the world. What does questioning govt, taxes and expeditures have to do with making rational comments and thoughts on every govt action? I see nothing wrong with tolls going up to address the upkeep and maintenance of the roads we drive. I rather have that happen than have my income taxes and property taxes go up. I supposse we can defer every legitimate expenditure until we have to tear the road network down and build anew. In fact, user fees should pay for most things govt provides and not have the cost become spread over people that don’t unse/benefit from it directly. Should a person give up 50% of their wealth when they die? I think not, if they saved it, it should go to anyone they wish to leave it.
I suspect that you would agree with that thought, however things used need to either be paid for now or in the future. I rather pay for it as we go…paygo system seems to be a mantra of the republican party now, but not so long ago they believed in cuttng taxes and increasing spending.
It is you and your buddy Yensen that are smug and full of it. Your right to voice your opinion is something I fought since I served my country. Even if I don’t really value your random thoughts and moronic statements, I do support you right to be as dumb as you can be. God Bless the USA.
Frankly Speaking: You may have fought FOR the right for others to voice their opinion; the tenor and content of your comments suggest, however, that, your implied military service notwithstanding, you are fighting your country now, as opposed to those you denigrate, who are fighting FOR it. I’d suggest you think about it; however, I’ve seen enough of your postings to know that such would be an open invitation to another of your smug, self-important ramblings.