Lamont budget takes the first step toward tolls

From CT Mirror.

Gov. Ned Lamont used his first budget Wednesday to lay the groundwork for the restoration of tolls to Connecticut highways.

Administration officials stressed they are just beginning a conversation with lawmakers about tolls. But the budget proposal also would cancel a crucial transfer of sales tax receipts to the Special Transportation Fund — a move the governor’s budget director acknowledged would create big problems for the transportation program absent another replacement source of revenue.

“As my co-equal branch of government, I am open to a real discussion with you, as well as Connecticut’s residents, about the state of our transportation system and what will be needed going forward – not only to make repairs, but to truly put Connecticut on the path to speedier transportation options,” Lamont told legislators in his budget address. “If the situation weren’t as dire as it is, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Lamont’s budget presentation includes projections that tolling trucks only — the option he supported on the campaign trail last fall — would raise between $45 million and $200 million per year. That falls hundreds of millions of dollars short of the funding transportation advocates and former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy insist are necessary both to maintain and upgrade the state’s aging, overcrowded infrastructure.

See the complete article from CT Mirror online.