The Senate Has a Plan to Avoid Financial Ruin
Everybody has a plan for how to save Massachusetts from the crippling debt on its crumbling infrastructure. Gov. Deval Patrick is on board with dismantling the Turnpike Authority and raising tolls. House Speaker Sal DiMasi wants to increase the gas tax.
In today’s Globe, Senate President Therese Murray and Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Steve Baddour have come forward with a plan to reform all the state’s transportation agencies before raising tolls or taxes.
Hmm.
First, the Senate will consider the advantages and drawbacks of creating a new, unified surface transportation agency for Massachusetts that would combine some or all of the financing and administration for the Turnpike, MassHighway, the MBTA, and regional transportation authorities.
And it shall be the most indebted agency of them all! The T is currently $8 billion in the hole. The Turnpike Authority owes about $2.5 billion. MassHighway is making payroll by using cash it earns from bonds.
Murray and Baddour acknowledge that this plan would probably require a new source of revenue once the details are worked out. The duo also floats the idea of creating a public-private partnership that would take over the functions of the Turnpike Authority, so the state wouldn’t be totally on the hook if the new agency went belly-up.
It’s an interesting development that bears watching, especially as DiMasi and Patrick seem destined to come to loggerheads on the gas tax issue.
Baddour and Murray have made it easy to keep tabs, since the duo has launched a blog, Mass Trans for Tomorrow. Between this and Scaling the Hill, our bookmark section dedicated to the work of public officials is getting pretty crowded. And we like it.
