Toll Equity Trust Blog

Today, Toll Equity Attorneys were in Boston to petition a single justice of the state Appeals Court to overturn a Middlesex Superior Court ruling that allows the Turnpike Authority to continue diverting toll revenues to pay for Big Dig debt and the cost to maintain the Central Artery Tunnel that millions use free of charge.

The petition cites “clear errors” of Constitutional law in the ruling issued last week in Middlesex Superior Court denying Toll Payers request for an injunction blocking the Turnpike from continuing to divert tolls to pay for the Big Dig roads.

“This petition is based on a simple ugly truth: The Turnpike Authority makes tollpayers pay for Big Dig debt and the costs to maintain the Central Artery that millions use free of charge,” said lead attorney Jan Schlichtmann.

Read more here (Adobe Acrobat required).

Statement from Jan Schlichtmann, lead attorney, Massachusetts Turnpike Toll Equity Trust

“We are of course disappointed with the ruling today but our cause endures and the 2,300-strong Toll Equity Trust will immediately appeal this ruling. We believe there is a fundamental constitutional principal involved that must be vindicated: The government cannot constitutionally charge some drivers to use a road system in order for most of the drivers to use it for free. We will immediately petition the Appeals Court to right this wrong and uphold the basic constitutional principal that governmental fees must be fair and equitable.”

Below is the statement released today from Jan Schlichtmann, lead attorney for the Massachusetts Turnpike Toll Equity Trust, regarding comments from the Turnpike Authority today regarding the suit and Treasurer Tim Cahill.

“It is shocking that Governor Patrick and his Turnpike Authority would so roundly dismiss the common sense complaints of drivers who for 10 years have been carrying the unfair burden of paying for the Big Dig while others drive it for free. The data released today shows for the first time that every tollpayer on the Turnpike and in the tunnels is paying for themselves and another driver who gets a free ride. That is plainly unjust and unfair and strikes to the heart of our case that these tolls are really taxes in disguise.

“Treasurer Cahill boldly stood up and asked the Governor and Attorney General to take tollpayer concerns seriously, to sit down with us and seek an equitable solution for the entire Commonwealth. It’s a shame this Governor, like so many before, decided to ignore tollpayers and instead stand with the Big Dig establishment.”

Big news coming from Toll Equity class action lawsuit today as State Treasurer Timothy Cahill urges Governor Deval Patrick and Attorney General Martha Coakley to settle our toll equity suit ASAP.

As first reported by the State House News Service (subscription website), Cahill is “deeply concerned” about the Pike lawsuit. The News Service wrote to the Governor and AG to seek a quick resolution. Calling it a “strongly worded letter,” the News Service said Cahill wrote that the suit has merit. (more…)

From the June 26 Toll Equity press release:

With the bold sweep of a pen, Governor Deval Patrick today ended 11 years of toll inequity by signing a landmark transportation reform bill which includes a provision guaranteeing toll equity in the Commonwealth.

“Toll payers at last have leaders in the State House who say yes to equity, yes to basic fairness and no to the inequitable Big Dig burden foisted for too long upon the people of MetroWest and the North Shore,” said Scott Harshbarger, co-trustee of the Turnpike Toll Equity Trust and former Attorney General.

A respected financial expert from Babson College hired by the Trust estimated that more than $420 million has been illegally diverted from the Pike tolls to pay for the Big Dig in the last three years alone.

With toll equity now law, the Trust said it is time to work out a similarly bold solution for the past inequities.

The Trust has not advocated any one solution for paying for the past inequities among drivers. However, the Turnpike now has more than $180 million in reserves and hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate assets.

“This is a time to come to the table, sit down and hammer out a solution,” said Harshbarger. “We do not ask, nor do we expect, a dollar-for-dollar reimbursement of the estimated $422 million illegally diverted from toll payers in just the last three years. But fairness dictates that we sit down and work out an equitable solution for all.”

**Below is the language from the final legislation affirming toll equity**

All revenue received from tolls, rates, fees, rentals and other charges for transit over or through all tolled roads, bridges or tunnels shall be applied exclusively to: (i) the payment of existing debt service on such tolled roads; and (ii) the cost of owning, maintaining, repairing, reconstructing, improving, rehabilitating, policing, using, administering, controlling and operating such tolled roads.

Toll Equity Included in the Transportation Bill!

Statement from Scott Harshbarger, co-trustee of the Massachusetts Turnpike Toll Equity Trust:

“The people of the Commonwealth and the cause of equity among drivers scored a huge victory tonight with the embrace of toll fairness by the transportation reform conference committee. For too long, the people west of and along the shore north of Boston have been wrongly shouldering the financial burden of The Big Dig and it appears tonight as if the Legislature will reverse that policy.

“While we haven’t yet seen the final language of the bill, the statements by the Speaker and Senate President make clear that it is time, at last, for toll equity now. We look forward to this change being made and signed into law by Governor Patrick. The thousands of members of the Toll Equity Trust and all the drivers of Massachusetts congratulate those who took this principled stand for fairness.”

Read the Senate and House’s press release.

From the Boston Globe article:

House and Senate leaders announced tonight that they had reached agreement on a sweeping transportation overhaul that includes the elimination of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority – an agency that has long been a symbol of bloat and inefficiency.

More details to come!

“We are pleased that the Turnpike Authority has clearly established to the Court that it has a stunning amount of assets, in excess of $7 billion, which are more than sufficient to repay toll payers who have unfairly borne the burden of the Big Dig. Our case will now proceed on its central premise that the current tolling system is clearly inequitable and must be fixed—we will be moving to establish a class and begin discovery next week. At the same time, it is critical that the Legislature and Governor Patrick show true leadership now by including toll equity in the transportation reform package expected next week.”

- Jan Schlichtmann