Editorial: Bad timing dooms plan for privatizing highway

Drawbacks to leasing highways like Alligator Alley outweigh potential benefits.

SunHerald  Charlotte/North Port/Venice  June 4, 2008

Leasing Alligator Alley to a private company sounds like an inviting concept. Over a decade, the state would collect between $500 million to $1.3 billion and the leasing company would maintain and operate the famous 78-mile roadway between Collier and Broward counties. Its profit -- and the state's share of it -- would come from the difference between those operational and maintenance costs and the revenue it generates from tolls.

That's where the reality of the arrangement rubs many people the wrong way. Even without knowing what company would win a proposed leasing deal, many critics of the plan -- approved by the Legislature earlier this year -- fear the firm will reap its profit at the expense of doing proper maintenance or will keep raising tolls to protect its profit margin.

The prospect of an iconic roadway like Alligator Alley falling into private hands adds to the misgivings, as does the length of any deal: 50 to 75 years.

The leasing of highways is a fairly new approach to transportation policy in the United States. The trend began in Chicago which leased the eight-mile Chicago Skyway to a private operator. Indiana leased its entire toll system to two firms. New Jersey briefly mulled the sale of its turnpike and Pennsylvania has already put its turnpike out to bid. The movement is part of a nationwide struggle to fund improvements, expansion or repairs to a increasingly overburdened and rapidly crumbling transportation infrastructure.

We like the creative, market-based thinking behind the trend, but question its efficiency.

For starters, governments can borrow money for road projects more cheaply than private companies. The private business model practically guarantees higher tolls. On top of that, the Legislature has an ignoble history of raiding trust funds dedicated to specific purposes.

If Florida needs more money to invest in roads, it should simply level with residents and raise the tolls on the Alley and the Florida Turnpike. One reason, Florida is strapped for cash is that Legislature took money from the transportation trust fund in past years to plug budget holes caused by its tax-cutting policies.

The lease plan itself pulls a switcheroo, skimming excess revenue generated by the Alligator Alley tolls, which in 2007 exceeded maintenance and operation costs by $17.4 million, for other roads.

We think Florida's residents are smart enough to spot a tax hike when they see one, whether it's disguised as a toll increase or not. It's fair to debate the need for higher gas taxes, new tolls on roads such as Interstate 75 and other ways to pay for road work. It is disingenuous to toss around big numbers for selling public roads while not acknowledging the certainty that higher tolls will come out of the pockets of motorists.

In addition, the Alley is heavily traveled by tractor trailers hauling goods across the state. If anyone thinks the cost of higher tolls (as with the cost of diesel) won't be passed on to consumers, they are not familiar with how private enterprise functions.

Florida's transportation policy has been off track for years, but putting public roads into private hands doesn't strike us as an improvement in that policy.

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EDITORIAL:  A tax increase by another name

Privatizing Alligator Alley a Bad Deal for Taxpayers

 The Miami Herald March 26, 2008

-- -- With Florida facing a serious revenue shortfall, state transportation leaders are dusting off plans for leasing Alligator Alley to a private company -- and giving the firm the power to set tolls. This is a move born of desperation. No doubt it seems an easy way for state lawmakers to create a politically painless new revenue stream. But the plan essentially amounts to a tax by other means, with tolls substituting for a tax increase.

Florida residents should put a stop to this ill-advised raid on the pocketbook. They should tell members of the Legislative Budget Commission to ditch the idea. To send members an e-mail, see the contact information below.

An analysis completed last year showed that investors may be willing to pay up to $1 billion for a 50-year lease of Alligator Alley. To recoup their investment, the vendors would be allowed to raise toll rates so long as they shared rate-hike plans with state lawmakers. In effect, the state would turn over responsibility for operating the tolls and maintaining the highway to a private vendor who presumably could manage the system more efficiently.

The obvious benefit is that the state would get an immediate cash infusion to offset revenue shortfalls. The reality, though, is that the plan, at best, is a short-term fix with long-term consequences for motorists and taxpayers. The state basically would give up control of an asset paid for by hundreds of millions of tax dollars. The vendor doesn't have to build or create a thing, doesn't have to put capital at risk. The vendor shows up, gives the state money and takes over the tolls and road operations.

The fact that there are any tolls at all on that stretch of Interstate-75 is part of the story. The state took over the highway in a special arrangement with the federal government. When the government began building the interstate-highway system in the 1960s, using federal tax dollars, the roads were supposed to be toll-free. Today, all but a few have remained toll-free.

The Naples-to-Broward portion of I-75 got an exception to the no-toll rule when Florida promised in the 1980s to widen the 76-mile stretch to four lanes and build culverts and bridges for panthers to cross underneath the roadway. The culverts and bridges also would alleviate the dam effect of the road and improve the southward flow of Everglades water. State lawmakers promised to remove the tolls after construction costs were paid. They later changed their minds, however, and made the tolls permanent.

Now, lawmakers want to further abuse taxpayers' investment and renege on their promise to manage the system. That would be a senseless giveaway and an abdication of responsibility.

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Editorial: Do not sell future Gov. Crist floating bad ideas

Bradenton Herald    September 26, 2007

Sep. 26--In the mad scramble to come up with money to pump up the state's deflated budget, Gov. Charlie Crist has floated two ideas that are giving off a bad smell. He suggests Floridians lease or sell two state assets to private enterprise -- tollways on the lease end and the lottery on the sale side.

We'd be selling our future to pay for the present. And taxpayers would lose both now and later.

Imagine paying a $5 toll to drive across the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

That's a whopping fivefold increase from the current $1. And that's what would occur if the state were to get the highest return in exchange for privatizing the five-mile bridge -- that return being $1.3 billion. The bridge could net anywhere between $477 million and that $1.3 billion figure, according to state estimates. Tolls would have to jump to cover private investment.

What we find shocking is Crist's take on arranging 50-year leases on the Sunshine Skyway bridge, Alligator Alley in South Florida and part of Beachline Expressway in central Florida. And we quote: "I think it could be a very good opportunity for Florida. That could be a way to help us, and there are others.

"I'm just trying to be innovative and not raise taxes."

 Whoa, back that truck up.

Not raise taxes? This looks and smells like a backdoor tax, disguised as something else. Crist is dressing up a pig. Taxpayers will still be footing the bill, but under this privatization plan, taxpayers will also be paying for corporate profits. At up to $5 a pop for each bridge crossing.

The leasing of state assets is nothing more than a de facto tax increase. Citizens should be outraged and shoot this idea down before it gains traction.

If Crist wants to spare the state budget from a whacking, he should be honest with Floridians. He should just raise the tolls. At least then citizens would not be shoveling money into some company's pockets.

But that won't happen. Not with overburdened taxpayers screaming loud and clear that we all need a break.

That brings us to the state lottery. And selling the future.

Crist put the lottery's market value at "billions and billions" of dollars. He noted that the idea is worth exploring if a potential buyer would pay big upfront. A dozen states -- including Texas and California -- have looked at unloading lotteries.

"I don't know if it's good or bad at this point," Crist recently told student government leaders from state universities.

It's bad.

The lottery raked in $4 billion in sales in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. Some $1.26 billion went into education.

Remember when the lottery was sold to voters in the mid-1980s as a free way to boost public school funding? New money would flow to schools. Not so much. Legislators hacked away at the percentage of general revenue directed to education. That "new" money found its way into the general fund.

So when a politician brings up the lottery, be prepared to hear a good story. Most likely fiction. Which is better? Billions and billions now with nothing in the future? Or a billion or so a year every year for generations to come?

Ask your children what they think. It's their future. We think it shouldn't be for sale to pay for today's bills.

Crist appears to be looking for a money tree of redwood magnitude.

Tollways and the lottery grow money, but getting rid of them would be like chopping down that money tree. Instead, let's chop down these ideas. They're bad for Florida. Let's not fall prey to political expediency in these times of budgetary troubles.

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Editorial: Bad idea on roads gets more absurd

St. Petersburg Times Tampa Bay  July 26, 2008

The list of companies wanting to take over one of Florida's signature roadways now reaches across the Atlantic Ocean, which poses a transcontinental transportation query:

Should Italy run Alligator Alley?

Gov. Charlie Crist is the one who signed off on this ever-maddening Department of Transportation quest to turn over public roads to private companies. He holds out hope, apparently, that the companies will shower his depleted budget with cash in such a way that he can deny their investment will be repaid by sky-high tolls.

 Most people have begun to see through the scheme at this point, though, which may explain why resident and consumer groups and the county governments on both ends of the Alley have formally opposed the lease.

Now that the DOT has received statements of interest from six different suitors, it is also clear that South Florida motorists could someday be entering a global marketplace.

Each of the six teams includes foreign companies — from Spain, Portugal, France, Brazil. One, from Italy, is made up only of foreign investors. Their interest merely underscores the inexplicable politics of outsourcing a publicly owned road.

State Sen. Dave Aronberg, whose district stretches from coast to coast in South Florida, has asked that the DOT plan be submitted to the state's Council on Efficient Government for independent review. If Crist won't pull the plug on this absurd venture, he ought to at least support a second opinion — from inside the state.

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Editorial:  A cockamamie idea that needs to die a quick death

Sun Sentinel Editorial Board  November 21, 2008

We all knows states are desperate for revenue, but sometimes creativity can be a negative. Particularly when it comes to highways.

In Florida, there already is the ill-conceived proposition to lease Alligator Alley to private interests. A possible spike in tolls is only one of several reasons why this is a bad idea that should be rejected.

Now California is coming up with another ill-advised revenue-making idea.If a current proposal ever comes to fruition, California would become the first state to actually put commercial ads on its alert signs along state and federal highways, according to published reports.

Yep, the transportation department in the Golden State could reap millions of dollars a year in ad revenue. When there is no alert to warn you about construction or lane closures, you could look up and entertain yourself by seeing an ad for a steak house, or maybe a sale on dress shirts at your favorite department store.

The revenue-generating idea has its critics, thankfully. Not only would it make people desensitized to real alert signs, but it would undoubtedly cause motorists to spend too much time looking at the ads flashing above them, and not worried about the autos in front of them. Is it really worth the money to subject motorists to something this distracting?

And what's next? Maybe news or celebrity updates on the signs, with paid commercials? Hey, why worry about driving carefully when you can look up and get the latest on Lindsay Lohan in rehab?

We can only hope if the California highway sign idea ever becomes reality, it doesn't spread to Florida. The Alligator Alley leasing proposal is bad enough.

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Editorial: Alligator Alley a cash and carry deal

OUR OPINION: STATE SHOULD NOT GIVE UP CONTROL OF VALUABLE ASSET

Miami Herald  Sept. 14, 2008

Despite strong objections from the public and from local governments, Gov. Charlie Crist and the state Department of Transportation are moving ahead with plans to lease Alligator Alley to private investors. Obviously, Gov. Crist and the DOT believe that a long-term deal is in the state's best interest.

Florida would get a huge infusion of cash upfront, with which it can fasttrack funding of needed transportation projects in Broward and Collier counties. The state also would get a revenue stream that could help alleviate future budget setbacks and dwindling federal highway dollars.

Does this make the deal worth it? We don't think so.

Neither bold nor creative

Gov. Crist and the DOT are being praised by some transportation officials and free-market thinkers -- who see the project as a model -- for their bold and creative thinking. Truth is, there isn't much that is bold or creative about turning over a 78-mile highway in excellent condition to private investors.

 Alligator Alley is a virtual monopoly; drivers have few options to get from Naples to Fort Lauderdale/Miami. At current rates, the alley's tolls produce $23.5 million in revenues annually, money that could be leveraged to generate hundreds of millions more dollars to fund even the biggest highway projects.

Moreover, Alligator Alley is as flat and straight a road as you will find anywhere. There are several small bridges that need attention, but the highway presents nothing as complicated as maintaining, say, St. Petersburg's Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

For their money investors get a ready-to-go highway, complete with electronic tolls, rest-and-recreation areas, fencing to keep animals off the road and a clean, spacious concession facility -- all bought and paid for by taxpayers. There is nothing to build, no messy construction timetable that can run up costs and ruin a budget. Best of all, the investors get a guaranteed revenue stream with guaranteed, scheduled price hikes.

From an investor's standpoint, what's not to like about this deal? There is far more risk in hedge funds or the stock market.

Why would the state make such a deal?

This from the DOT website wwww.Alligator-Alley.com: ``The Department selected Alligator Alley because it favorably fits the profile for lease of an existing toll facility to the private sector. It is 78 miles in length, it has an existing revenue stream (tolls) and it is being upgraded (resurfacing). It would appear to have value to a private Concessionaire, and provide significant upfront funds to the Department for other infrastructure improvements.''

You betcha. Great value for investors; little for motorists.

Hundreds of people participated in two recent public workshops on the proposal. Many carried signs imploring Gov. Crist not to lease the road, not to increase tolls for ''corporate profit,'' not to give up control of public property. They were assured that the DOT would ''set the parameters'' for toll increases, and that any agreement would be cost-effective and in the best interest of the public.

Mine belongs to Florida

It is hard to imagine what can be more cost-effective than the state continuing to manage such a valuable, unencumbered asset. There is nothing wrong with public-private partnerships, particularly when the private partner brings assets and expertise the state doesn't have, or is willing to take a risk that would be unwise for government. One industry official told state lawmakers that Florida is ''sitting on a gold mine.'' For some cash in hand, Florida is about to give away its right to mine the gold.

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Editorial: Alley toll plan blurs leasing issue

Ft. Myers News Press Oct. 10, 2008

The Florida Department of Transportation on Wednesday released its proposed toll increases for Alligator Alley. But in doing so, the DOT conveniently blurred the line between proposed tolls and its proposed leasing of the 78-mile road to a private contractor.

The tolls would jump from $2.50 to $3.75 for cash customers and from $2 to $3 for drivers with SunPass beginning July 1, 2009. Beginning in 2011, the rates would increase annually by 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is higher. “We need to start the wheels rolling now,” said Dick Kane, spokesman for the Department of Transportation.

But before we roll, the destination should be clear. If it’s leasing Alligator Alley to a foreign-owned company, that’s a trip we’d rather not take.

The six private companies competing for the lease will use the proposed rate increases to determine their up-front bids. If the state decides not to lease the 78-mile section of I-75, Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Kopelousos could raise tolls at her discretion.

But there’s no indication whether tolls would go up regardless of the private lease, and if so, by how much. There’s no indication whether the proposed increases make it more or less likely that the state will go through with leasing. There’s no indication whether the proposal is binding or how much say the private company would have.

The state is hosting an open house at 6 p.m. and a public hearing at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Golden Gate Community Center, 4701 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples, on the issue. Or, in actuality, the issues.

There’s a rate increase on one hand, and a 50-year lease on the other. The two should be considered separately, with neither affecting the other. The DOT seeks public input on the rate increases, while assuring residents that the state will maintain control of future increases, too. But let’s not confuse matters.

Toll increases are inevitable, lease or not. For now, let’s make the “not” our main focus.

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Editorial:  Without hard figures, plans, privatization hard to judge

 Naples Daily News  June 4, 2008

The public has heard about the state’s plans to privatize Alligator Alley, the 78 miles of Interstate 75 between Naples and Fort Lauderdale.

We have heard of the plans to raise tolls from today’s $2.50 each way for cars to $3.60, $5.30 or even $6.60 after only 10 years of a 50- to 75-year contract.

We heard that the money paid to the state by a contractor will go for road improvements in Collier and Broward counties only.

We believe it is time to hear the details of how a Collier/Broward split would work and how much benefit each county would be assured of getting.

When asked, the Florida Department of Transportation is unable to produce a list of roads in Collier that would be financed. The FDOT refers inquiries to Collier County, where the Transportation Division issues a list titled “Current Unfunded State Highway System Needs in Collier County.”

On that list are:

-- State Road 82 (from Lee/Collier line to State Road 29 at Immokalee)  -- S.R. 29 bypass  -- S.R. 29 (Immokalee Road to Interstate 75)  -- I-75/Everglades Boulevard interchange  -- I-75/Collier Boulevard/Davis Boulevard interchange  -- Marco Island Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge four-laning  -- U.S. 41 (Collier Boulevard to Six L’s Packing Co.)  -- Davis Boulevard (Santa Barbara Boulevard to Radio Road)  -- I-75 (Lee County line to Collier Boulevard interchange)  -- State Road 951 (U.S. 41 to Jolley Bridge)  -- Emergency services along Alligator Alley

Thought-provoking.

Yet, no promises. Just possibilities.

At least one local lawmaker, Rep. Matt Hudson, notes that the state aims to complete a contract by the end of the year, which would be before the 2009 session of the legislature, which believed it would ultimately decide this matter.

The community needs to hear more on the fundamental question: Why can’t the state do this itself, thus skipping the middleman and retaining control of this public asset?

It’s good to know we’re not alone. A member of the Florida Cabinet, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, says she wants the answer to that one too and will get it once she has some hard figures from bidders for comparison. As the former president of Bank of America for all of Florida, we think she knows how to get to the heart of that matter.

We need to know more about what’s in it for us, since we’re going to be paying. We’re ready to be impressed.

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Editorial: Private roads are dead end for Florida

St. Petersburg Times September 30, 2007

In another attempt to reconcile his ambitions with his tax phobia, Gov. Charlie Crist is considering whether to essentially lease the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to pay for new professors at the University of Florida. As a financing plan for Florida's future, auctioning off public assets like roads is a dead end.

Crist told a reporter recently that his concept, which is to lease public roads and bridges to private companies who would be paid back through higher tolls, could amount to a "very good opportunity" for the state. He added: "I'm just trying to be innovative and not raise taxes."

The governor makes the concept sound as though it were free to Floridians, but it is anything but. The Orlando Sentinel looked at briefings provided the governor's office by a New York investment firm and found that motorists would get stuck with the bills.

For granting a 50-year lease on Alligator Alley, for example, the state might be expected to receive an up-front payment of between $504-million and $1.3-billion. In return, the company buying the lease would get to raise tolls from $2.50 to $10 within a decade. The Skyway Bridge might bring in a similar amount of money up front, but the toll could be raised from $1 to $5.

The math works only if the state allows the companies to significantly raise tolls, which itself raises a question about privatization. If there are profits to be made by raising tolls, why wouldn't the state do so on its own? The state could borrow money at a cheaper rate than private firms and wouldn't need pay shareholders a 20 percent return.

The reason traces back to the pinched politics that drive Crist to seek financial alternatives. If the state were to increase the tolls directly, Crist would consider it a form of a tax increase in much the same way he spurns tuition increases. But if a private company raises the tolls, politicians gain a measure of deniability.

Georgia is among the states that are pursuing private roads as a way to meet transportation challenges. But its early efforts show that not everyone is easily fooled. It tried to sell a road between Atlanta to Athens until people found out the price would be a round-trip toll of roughly $10. Now Georgia is focusing its privatization effort on new roads.

Crist appears to be considering the possibility of selling control of existing roads and bridges whose construction in many cases has already been paid off by tolls. Tolls could be increased for those motorists for uses wholly unrelated to transportation, such as education. If tolls are the ultimate user fee, what happens when they are put to an entirely different use?

Putting public thoroughfares in the hands of private entrepreneurs can also lead to some untenable trade-offs. A new U.S. Public Interest Research Group report documents the noncompete clauses that have shown up in deals in other states.

As an example, one Colorado road deal actually required nearby cities to add stop lights to slow traffic on competing roadways, lest the company lose potential toll revenue to free roads.

The practice of private roads traces largely to developing nations, where poor governments are unable to borrow the capital on their own.

That's not the case in Florida, which is why privatization seems only to add a layer of political insulation and private profit.

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Editorial: Alligator Alley Great deal, or great give-away?

OUR OPINION: State must justify lease benefits to the public

Miami-Herald  Sept. 28, 2008

The most persistent question asked at recent public hearings on the state's proposed lease of Alligator Alley to a private contractor goes like this: If a contractor is willing to give the state a bundle of money for the highway, why can't the state keep possession and do what the vendor plans to do -- leverage the road's assets for cash? Wouldn't the state generate as much cash as the contractor, if not in fact, more?

Review proposal carefully

These are good questions because they go to the heart of the decision by Gov. Charlie Crist and the Department of Transportation to explore a public-private partnership for Alligator Alley. We won't know the answers until the state finishes reviewing proposals from various contractors (by Dec. 15) and compares those with its own calculations of continuing to operate and manage the road (by early 2009).

Nevertheless, a look at the metrics shows how difficult it would be for a private contractor to manage and operate the highway at lower costs than the state:

• Upfront payout. The deal depends on the investors putting up enough money -- hundreds of millions -- to make it worthwhile for the state. Remember: The state's goal is to get enough upfront money to pay for other neglected road projects, said Gov. Crist. Chicago got $1.83 billion for a 99-year lease of its 7.8-mile Chicago Skyway Bridge. Was that a good deal? Some are beginning to think not because the cash the city got will run out many decades before the lease expires. If Florida were to get a comparable payout, would it last longer than the 50- to 75-year lease? Not likely. Florida would be left with nothing for neglected roads when the upfront payment was depleted after 10 or 15 years.

• Leveraging money. The private vendors will need to raise money, and will do so based on projected revenue streams from tolls. The state also can use toll revenue to leverage money, but it has the advantage of being able to borrow at lower rates than can private investors. Being able to get more for less is a big advantage.

• Operating efficiency. The key to effectively managing the highway requires making accurate projections about toll income, traffic growth and operational expenses. A private contractor with some toll-road experience can be expected to make good, conservative projections of these costs. (There is no point in gambling with aggressive estimates; investors and shareholders expect you to deliver what you promise). The state, too, can be expected to know what these costs are based on its years of day-to-day experience. Likely, neither side has an advantage here.

• Intangibles. When asked what a private contractor brings to the table that the state doesn't, DOT officials talk about business savvy, operational efficiency, market knowledge, etc. However, under the state's current management of the highway, most operations -- including tolls, maintenance and resurfacing -- already are being handled by private vendors. Presumably these contractors are operating at maximum efficiency. A contractor who takes over the highway will inherit or duplicate these efficiencies. Finding more would be difficult. No advantage here for the state or contractor.

• The state's cut. In addition to upfront cash, the state will get a share of the revenue collected from tolls. This will eat into the private contractor's profit. Advantage to the state: It doesn't have to share toll revenue.

• Final tally. The state pays no upfront money, saves on the cost of capital, matches the private contractor on operating costs, has equal business savvy and gets a little extra from toll collections. Advantage to the state.

Motorists are asking the right questions. They want to know why leasing Alligator Alley is a great deal and not a give-away of a valuable asset.

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Editorial: Small crowd speaks up about toll road lease.
Sun Sentinel  June 10, 2008

Hats off to the 40 or so people who took time out of their busy schedules to stick up and speak up for so many other commuters, and for South Florida's best interest.

Late last month, these good citizens showed up to a public hearing to voice concerns and opposition to an ill-advised plan that could end up leading to huge toll increases on Alligator Alley. Florida's Department of Transportation is considering leasing out the 78-mile toll highway to a company in return for a huge paycheck.

DOT officials say they need extra revenues to pay for other highway projects, including widening both Interstate 75 and Interstate 95. They say raising taxes isn't politically feasible to fill the funding gap.

That much is understandable. But before any leases are cut, Floridians need to see details, a lot of them.

Principally, by how much would tolls rise? Alligator Alley, like other Florida highways, is a lifeline for the state, both for residents moving around and for businesses trucking commerce. A precipitous rise in toll costs could hurt tourism, and lead to increased costs for consumers.

There's another consideration, too. If tolls are going to increase, why not just have the money go straight to DOT's hands, rather than be handled by another company? DOT officials say a private corporation would have better expertise and, thus, might be able to get a better return on the state's investment.

That might be true, but why would that company be so charitable as to pass on those benefits to the state and its residents instead of using its efficiency to maximize its own profits?

DOT officials were quite efficient and savvy in getting federal money for a pilot project, the so-called "Lexus Lanes," for I-95. Florida would do well to see how that project works, and what happens to tolls and revenues, before giving a green light to another experiment on Alligator Alley.

BOTTOM LINE: Let's see what happens on I-95 before we lease out Alligator Alley.

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Editorial:  State must keep Alligator Alley

If tolls collected on Florida roads and bridges have to be raised, let it be to fund transportation projects, not the profitability of private corporations, foreign or domestic.

That's the issue, well put by state Sen. Burt Saunders recently in these pages. The proposal in question is to lease Alligator Alley for 50 years or more to a private consortium in return for up-front money for Florida's huge road construction needs.

If the Alley (I-75 between Naples and Fort Lauderdale) generates enough profits to attract private investment, some of it foreign, they're adequate to borrow construction money directly, without surrendering any control over tolls on a key road. Or the state could raise tolls to directly fund road work. Motorists would buy that.

Two public meetings today, one hosted by Saunders, will give people a chance to speak up on this issue.

Let officials know how you feel.