BOSTON - Leaders of the North of Boston Legislative Caucus are calling on the region's elected officials to boycott a public hearing next week on hiking the Tobin Bridge toll from $2 to $3.
Lawmakers on the newly formed caucus say the Massachusetts Port Authority had promised no decisions would be made on increasing the Tobin Bridge toll until after an advisory committee had issued its recommendations for fairly distributing the skyrocketing costs of the $14.6 billion Central Artery/Big Dig construction project across the state.
But the agency announced earlier this month that it intends to increase the southbound lane toll on the bridge to make it the same as the Sumner/Callahan and Ted Williams tunnels. The $1 increase would take effect in the spring and would be the second such hike in the last two years for the bridge, which spans the Mystic River and connects the North Shore to Boston. The first of three MassPort Hearings on the toll increase is scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. at North Shore Community College in Lynn. "This hearing is a farce," said Senate Democratic Leader Frederick E. Berry of Peabody. He and North of Boston Caucus co-chairman Sen. Thomas M. McGee, D-Lynn have asked the region's state and local leaders to skip the hearing in protest.
"In scheduling this hearing at this time, before a report is rendered or read, MassPort is essentially saying that increasing tolls on the Tobin Bridge is the only option they are willing to consider," Berry added. "They have clearly rejected in advance any ideas put forth by the advisory committee. This is taxation without representation being forced upon the people in the north. And they are shoving it right down our throat."
The tolls advisory committee, chaired by state Transportation Secretary Dan Grabauskus of Ipswich, must submit its final report by Dec. 31, but is expected to do so within the next two weeks.
State Sen. Steven A. Baddour, D-Methuen, a member of the advisory committee and co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Transportation Committee, agreed MassPort broke its promise not to make any decisions until the report is completed.
But he said the Legislature might not be able to stop the toll increase because MassPort is an independent state authority that does not have to answer to lawmakers.
"They are laying the groundwork for a toll hike that they will not implement until after January," Baddour said.
Baddour said he is pleased MassPort has not proposed creating new toll booths on Interstate 93 near the New Hampshire border, as some Western Massachusetts lawmakers have been pushing. But he said he would support the hearing boycott.
"We're speaking as one," Baddour said. "That's why we came together to form the caucus."
Senate Minority Whip and North of Boston Caucus co-chairman Bruce E. Tarr, R-Gloucester, won't be attending Monday's hearing either.
"They have created the impression the toll increase is on auto-pilot, so why bother?" Tarr said.
A MassPort spokesman said the agency would consider the advisory committee's report and listen to the comments of the public at its upcoming hearings. He stopped short of saying either could influence the toll hike.
"We have obligations that we have to meet and our board has decided how it intends to meet those obligations," said Jose Jueves, the agency's legislative liaison.
Jueves said the additional revenue would be used to cover nearly $15 million the agency must contribute next year to help pay for the Big Dig. The toll revenue would also be used to pay for $68 million in bridge repairs and improvement over the next ten years, he said.
Baddour said he is scheduling a meeting with MassPort officials next week to "discuss the issue and explore other options for raising more revenue" for the agency. He said the meeting would likely take place in Berry's office. One possible option for helping North Shore commuters with the toll increase, Baddour said, is offering them the Easy Pass discount system, now only available on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Berry and state Rep. Theodore Speliotis, D-Danvers, have filed bills to offer toll discounts to North Shore commuters, but those proposals have yet to develop any momentum on Beacon Hill.
Berry called the Big Dig "a necessary and positive project," but said the cost overruns should be distributed more evenly across the state. He said increasing the state gasoline tax by a nickel a gallon would negate the need to raise the Tobin Bridge toll.
"I'd do the gas tax but I'd also look at any other ideas of the advisory committee," he said. "A 200 percent increase in tolls for the North Shore over two years is totally unfair. That's $15 per week for the working class person who has to commute into Boston. It's outrageous."