Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean

Authority Never Responded to Request for Documents Related to Toll Hike

Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean and Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce today filed a formal complaint with the Government Records Council against the New Jersey Turnpike Authority after the agency failed to respond to a September 19th Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request that sought documents related to Governor Corzine’s proposed toll hike plan.

Kean and DeCroce said it is crucial that this documentation be released immediately, since three public hearings have already been held and action by the Turnpike Authority seems imminent.

“We’ve asked for basic information about these toll increases the public is entitled to see and the response was crickets chirping in the wind,” said Kean, R-Union, Essex, Morris and Somerset. “The Turnpike Authority has thumbed its nose at its responsibility to deal openly with the public.”

“There are a lot of unanswered questions about how this proposal was developed, what role the Governor played, and what the projected impact of the plan will be on commuters,” said DeCroce, R-Morris and Passaic. “By failing to respond to this OPRA request, we can only assume that the Turnpike Authority, and perhaps the executive branch, have something to hide.”

On September 4th Corzine reportedly met with members of the Democrat legislative leadership and outlined plans for a 150 percent toll increase that would be used to fund a number of transportation projects. In January Corzine had proposed an 800 percent toll hike – a plan that collapsed after the public and members of both parties in the Legislature expressed their strong opposition.

This time Corzine chose not to seek a legislative enactment of the toll hike proposal and instead left it up to the state’s two toll road authorities to implement the toll hikes without legislative review.

Kean and DeCroce filed the request asking for a variety of documents including studies or data that had been compiled regarding the toll hike plan including the cost of certain projects, revenue estimates, and projected impacts on traffic flow. The request also sought any communications between the Corzine administration and members of the Authority regarding the potential toll hikes or the development of the toll hike plan.

They pointed out that the issue of communications regarding the plan is important in determining who is responsible for the proposal and noted that the Turnpike Authority hadn’t held a public meeting since this summer, weeks before the toll hike plan was announced in September, yet somehow reached agreement on how big the increases should be and what projects should be funded.

Later, according to today’s newspapers, the members of the agency, again without formally meeting, decided that the toll hike proposal should be scaled back and that another public hearing was needed.

—————————————————–

October 1, 2008

Government Records Council
PO Box 819
Trenton, New Jersey, 08625-0819

VIA EMAIL, FACSIMILE, AND REGULAR MAIL:

Attached, please find a complaint submitted by Brian Alpert of the Senate Republican Office. At our direction, Brian submitted a request for information to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority on September 19, 2008 (attached) for basic information pertaining to that agency’s pending action to more than double tolls on the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike. That request, made on a standard form supplied by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, was followed by a letter from us to the Executive Director of that Authority requesting assistance with obtaining the information. To date, no response has been received in response to these requests.

In light of our need for information pertaining to the pending toll increases which will have far-reaching ramifications on commuters and businesses in the State of New Jersey, we respectfully request that you convene a meeting at you earliest convenience and direct the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to produce the requested documents without further delay.

Sincerely,

Thomas Kean
Senate Republican Leader

Alex DeCroce
Assembly Republican Leader

c: Hon. Jon Corzine, Governor
Kris Kolluri, Chairman, New Jersey Turnpike Authority

—————————————————–

September 22, 2008

Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, Executive Director
New Jersey Turnpike Authority
P.O. Box 5042
Woodbridge, NJ 07095-5042

Dear Ms. Gutierrez-Scaccetti:

As the Republican leaders of our respective houses of the New Jersey Legislature, we write this letter as a courtesy to inform you that we recently filed a request for information under the Open Publics Record Act (OPRA) with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority regarding the proposed toll increases. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this request. Below you will find a detailed list of the information that was contained in the OPRA request:

1. any studies or estimates that show the extent to which tolls need to be raised, to meet current bond covenants;

2. any studies or estimates that show the extent to which tolls need to be raised to pay for the State’s share of the ARC project;

3. any studies or estimates that show the extent to which tolls need to be raised to pay for needs other than 1 and 2 above;

4. any studies that show the extent of traffic diversions because of the toll increases being proposed;

5. any and all legal opinions that suggest it is lawful to increase tolls on the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway to pay the State share of a mass transit project despite language in the authorizing law which states tolls may only be used for non-highway projects on an interim basis and any other legal opinions provided by the Attorney General or various vendors;

6. estimates showing the annual amount of additional revenue that will be generated because of the proposed toll increases;

7. estimates showing the actual annual cash needs associated with 1, 2, and 3 above;

8. a list of all legal professionals, engineers, and other professionals and consultants who have helped develop the toll proposal above;

9. cost estimates for each of the other projects to be paid for pursuant to 3 above;

10. all communications between anyone in the Governor’s Office and Turnpike Authority pertaining to the development of the proposal to raise tolls under consideration by the Turnpike Authority;

11. any documents that indicate funds derived from toll increases would be used to pay any subsidy to NJ Transit for any cost other than the cost of construction of a new rail tunnel;

12. any financing models or projections of debt issuances and debt service for projects supported by increases in tolls and any justification or documents explaining the need for toll increases in 2023; and

13. a copy of the resolution adopted at the NJTA public session on September 9, 2008 (173-08) - Authorization to Conduct Public Hearings in Connection with a Proposed Toll Adjustment for the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.

Thank you for your immediate attention and consideration of this request. We look forward to reviewing your response in a timely fashion.

Sincerely,

Thomas Kean
Senate Republican Leader

Alex DeCroce
Assembly Republican Leader

Link to Post:

http://www.senatenj.com/index.php/tomkean/kean-decroce-file-open-public-records-complaint-against-turnpike-authority/1221