Lamont: Debt Or Tolls? Your Pick

by Thomas Breen | Apr 22, 2019 12:53 pm

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Posted to: State, Transportation, True Vote

Gov. Ned Lamont presented New Haven’s business community with a choice for how the state will pay for necessary transit improvements: through tolls or through debt. Connecticut’s governor made that pitch Monday morning in a keynote address to the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce about his nascent administration’s economic development priorities. Lamont made that pitch Monday morning in a keynote address to the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce about his nascent administration’s economic development priorities. Around 50 local business leaders and economic development officials came out to listen to the governor in conversation with Chamber President Garrett Sheehan during the hour-long event at the Shubert Theater on College Street. Lamont, whose administration just passed its first 100-day mark, said that improving the state’s public infrastructure remains towards the top of his legislative agenda. One key way to fund those improvements, particularly quicker rail service to and from New Haven and New York, is through electronic highway tolls, which Lamont has proposed implementing. “I think that upgrading our transportation system to the 21st century,” he said, “having New Haven as a major transportation hub, to be able to get from New Haven to New York in 20, 30 minutes less time, is absolutely the most important investment we can make if you believe in the future of this state and economic growth.” He praised Repbulican legislators for “coming to the table” to talk about infrastructure improvements, and for no longer pushing the narrative that the state should be “doing more with less” to fix its decaying train tracks and roads. “I’m sick of those debates,” he said. He said his administration and both Republican and Democratic legislators now all agree that the state needs $700 to $800 million more each year in order to fix its aging transportation infrastructure. “Here you have a real choice,” he said. “The Republican plan, they call that prioritized progress. I call it prioritized bonding. As opposed to our debt diet that would reduce the amount of borrowing we do against the general fund, reduce the amount of borrowing that taxpayers would have to pay, the Republican plan would add something like $700 million a year to that general fund bond obligation. It’s the exact opposite direction we ought to go.” Electronic highway tolls, he said, would be paid for mostly by big trucks and out-of-state drivers. “If you bond it,” he said, “that’s all paid for by is and our kids. One hundred percent.” “You guys just got to make up your mind on this,” he continued. “Cause’s that’s what the choice is. I’m asking people to make a sacrifice in order to get this done.” Tweed Plans Pitched At the event, Sheehan praised Lamont for voicing his support on the campaign trail for expanding the runway at Tweed New Haven Airport. A bill that would eliminate the current runway limitation recently passed out of the Transportation Committee, and will now be voted on by the full state legislature. “I want to put my shoulder to the wheel on that,” Lamont said about the Tweed bill. He recognized that neighbors in the East Shore area feel that they would be disadvantaged by the runway extension and the concomitant increase in plane traffic. He said he and legislators and businesses working on the bill now are bouncing around ideas like creating a mortgage subsidy plan to encourage residents. He said that would stabilize property values and make East Shore an attractive area to move even after the prospective expansion of the runway. Another idea he is considering, he said, is working with New Haven Promise to establish college scholarship for students who live in the area. He said adding plane service from New Haven to cities like Miami, Washington D.C., and Chicago would be a game changer for the local and state economy. That would involve changing state law to allow paving more of Tweed’s runway, an idea that has met with vocal opposition in Morris Cove. “I’ve got airlines lined up that want to do it,” he said. “I’ve got a management company that would like to finance this. For another 1,500 feet on that runway, I think that would be transformative.” Dennis Bollier, the founder and CEO of a company called Employee Health Matters LLC and a former pilot himself, said that he has watched closely over the decades as local politicians and businesspeople have tried in vain to increase plane traffic at the regional airport. “It’s a shame that nobody’s been able to do anything about it in all these years,” he said. Perhaps that will change with this gubernatorial adminsitration, he said. “I’ve got to get people to the table,” Lamont replied. “I don’t want to kick the can down the road.” Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch part of Monday’s press conference.

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posted by: redman on April 22, 2019 1:16pm Cutting spending is not an option for a democrat.

posted by: Barking up the right tree on April 22, 2019 1:41pm Typical Dem tactic. Bait and switch on tolls and other taxes. Vote for me and other people will pay higher taxes. Oops sorry my bad !! Now everyone has to pay higher taxes.

Florida,Texas and other states with no state taxes or lower tax rates will gladly accept people sick of these failed economic policies.

No wonder CT is at the bottom of the list for encouraging young people and businesses to move here.

Soon the middle class will no longer able to afford to live in this state.

As the saying goes : people deserve the government they voted for.

posted by: mspepper on April 22, 2019 2:03pm Barking, Apparently you missed the memo that CT has the 4th most innovative economy in the nation: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-16/california-is-no-1-massachusetts-no-2-in-u-s-innovation-rank That said, the sad part is: you’re not wrong. Lamont’s regressive tax scheme and his refusal to raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents is nothing short of abhorrent. It’s spineless and cruel. I urge everyone to contact Lamont’s office today and demand he support the Progressive Dem Caucus’s proposed tax on investment income for single filers earning over $500,000 and couples earning over $1M that would net the state $200M per year: https://www.middletownpress.com/local/article/Tax-on-CT-wealthy-could-raise-200M-annually-13778413.php?fbclid=IwAR00mO5xK1Jvct3BeQs1AwIjCEkq1rMY26gLMTaRJb3yyLUjewxpZMo_-SM

posted by: Twentyniner on April 22, 2019 2:19pm Bring on the tolls! The airport will not make money, just more taxes for New Haven residents. Once again, a bad idea being supported with no proof and a good idea to decrease debt people fighting against. Let drivers pay to use and maintain our roads. Why support an airport for the 1%?

posted by: cunningham The state’s operating budget is easily available online: https://openbudget.ct.gov/#!/year/default I encourage anyone to take a look and find an annual billion dollars of fat that could be trimmed, so as not to need tolls.

posted by: Barking up the right tree on April 22, 2019 2:50pm Mspepper:

Thanks for the link to article. That is promising news for CT. It would stand to reason that with number of universities and the proximity to NY and Boston, CT should have great potential to be at the top of every list of favorable states.

Unfortunately CT is not considered a state that has a positive business climate. The high tax rate is just one of the factors. In fact CT is in the BOTTOM 10 states for favorable business climates. https://taxfoundation.org/state-business-tax-climate-index-2019/

posted by: wendy1 on April 22, 2019 7:20pm Tax the rich. Tax profitable non profits.

posted by: steve on April 22, 2019 9:18pm @ Twentyniner, quote “The airport will not make money, just more taxes for New Haven residents.” Not True. For years the airport has had its hands tied for years in having a limited runway but now it appears that hopefully the state will overturn the law limiting the runway, and should that fail, an appeal court case ruling is due soon. American airlines is doing very well and if Delta and United start service, the airports income will rise and reduce its dependence on local funding. Allegiant airlines has said they would offer several weekly non-stop to Florida.

Bradley is not geographically situated to serve the entire state as it is almost in Massachusetts.

Tweed is at the junction of I-95 and I-91 and has a huge market to draw from, and upgrading the runway will allow the airport to add new flights and and increase its income.

posted by: missthenighthawks on April 23, 2019 11:58am “Trucks and out of state drivers will pay most of the tolls”.

I’m sure the people commuting to work every day will be happy to hear that. Somehow their cars will be invisible to the toll gantries set up all over the state to tax everything that moves. Lamont wants to make New Haven a major transportation hub by building a train system that will reduce travel time through higher speed trains. Then, they’ll get off in New Haven to the 19th century where everyone walks or bikes to the station because there is no parking.

posted by: Cousin Vinny on April 23, 2019 3:53pm The answer, of course, depends on to whom the question is directed. Those indigent souls receiving state assistance (and paying little in taxes) will choose the former, as they feel it’s the state’s “duty” to help the less fortunate, even to the point of insolvency.

For the rest of us, the option that the governor does NOT present is “spending cuts.” UConn is a good place to start, reversing the policy of bringing about “a college the basketball team could be proud of.”

In the case of Tweed’s viability, consider:

American Airlines has replaced the outmoded Dash-8 jet-props with more fuel -efficient regional jets, resulting in an increase in boardings well exceeding the “break even” point to attain profitability.

American has also made considerable investments in the passenger terminal, including check-in kiosks and an improved lounge area.

Allegiant Airlines has stated not once, but several times, that they are willing to commit to serving New Haven provided the necessary safety improvements are in place.

If all this is for a “tax loss” to show Uncle Sam, I think the airlines could be more creative.

Clearly, Gov. Lamont sees the airport as a decent infrastructure investment that will not only complement Bradley, but keep the state residents’ travel dollars from going to New York or Rhode Island.

And, should the tolls become a reality, those “cheap fares” out of Bradley or New York may not be so cheap anymore. “Use the Hartford Line,” you say? Let’s hope they have a train to get you to Windsor Locks for that early morning flight. And let’s hope your flight back isn’t delayed to where you miss the last train of the day. You’ll have to factor in a hotel room stay, too.

posted by: ShadowBoxer on April 23, 2019 4:14pm I’m ecstatic that the Tweed Expansion Bill made it out of committee. I just hope Senator Looney doesn’t kill it in the state Senate since he lives in the East Shore like every year. This would be a REAL game changer for the economy: just imagine if Tweed went from becoming a tiny little backwater of an airport to a real option. This would bring an economic miracle to the shoreline of Connecticut. And since CT spends less than any other New England state for tourism this would help the tourist industry immensely. This, in conjunction to renaming Bradley Airport “Hartford Airport” which they are also debating would clear up any confusion. I can’t count how many times people visit me in New Haven and fly into JFK or Logan, and when I ask them why they didn’t chose Bradley they think it is somewhere in central Mass. Renaming Bradley “Hartford” and Tweed-New Haven simply New Haven, as well as expanding the runway would be an economic shot in the arm. Expanded service out of the State Street train station, so that THAT station is more often the gateway into downtown than Union Station, and moving the buses off the green to State Street would be a grand improvement in the quality of life. Buses belong on State Street, which is wide and near the trains, not far from them, spewing fumes, noise, littering and causing loitering downtown on what was to be be a bucolic city green. This would also make the gateway to New Haven the plaza behind city hall and Federal Building, and have obviate having bus riders disembark in front of 900 Chapel and see Cannabis clinics, liquor stores, tattoo parlors, Dollar Trees and Vaping and Hooka joints. (and yes I use the buses - I wouldn’t mind walking an extra two blocks if it meant the downtown were cleaner, safer and quieter.) If riders want to loiter, let them loiter on State Street - State St isn’t no man’s land. That may even liven up that stretch a bit from the Goodfellas to Union Station - a better transportation hub