ALBANY, N.Y. — In the wake of a proposed multi-year schedule of toll increases starting next year on the New York State Thruway, state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli cautioned that toll increases should be the last option. Instead, he encourages the New York State Thruway Authority to first improve operations and maximize non-toll revenues. DiNapoli […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — In the wake of a proposed multi-year schedule of toll increases starting next year on the New York State Thruway, state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli cautioned that toll increases should be the last option. Instead, he encourages the New York State Thruway Authority to first improve operations and maximize non-toll revenues.
DiNapoli came to this conclusion after his office reviewed a decade of Thruway finances and the toll-hike proposal, and found gaps in information necessary to evaluate the proposal.
“The Thruway Authority’s toll-increase proposal comes at a time of extraordinary challenges for New Yorkers who are faced with rising costs for everything from food to shelter to gas,” DiNapoli said in a news release. “The Thruway should be more transparent with the public and disclose critical information and identify and put in place all possible cost-savings and alternate revenue actions to minimize costs to drivers. Raising tolls should be the last option, and the Thruway has more work to do.”
The Thruway’s board of directors began implementing the multi-year schedule of increases in December 2022. The proposal calls for rate hikes on Jan. 1, 2024 and Jan. 1, 2027 for the highway system and barriers, and annually over four years beginning in 2024 for the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. The proposal also expands the rate differential between New York–issued E-Z Pass users and all others.
The Thruway expects the rate increases to grow toll revenue by 28.4 percent, or $1.9 billion, through 2031.
In his report, DiNapoli noted the Thruway’s finances and operations were influenced by five key factors over the last decade. Those issues include concerns over cashless tolling and tolls by mail, accurately predicting traffic following the COVID-19 pandemic, borrowing costs for the construction of the Cuomo Bridge, and debt totals and debt-service costs. The final factor involves the blurry lines between the state government and Thruway, including a claim the state has relied on the Thruway as a “backdoor borrowing” financing vehicle with more than $5 billion in state-supported outstanding Thruway debt.
Before any tolls are increased, DiNapoli urged the Thruway Authority to resolve the cashless tolling and tolls-by-mail system to resolve implementation problems and ensure it has accurate traffic forecasts. He also wants the Authority to perform a comprehensive assessment of operating needs and expenses to identify costs that may no longer be necessary, maximize non-toll revenue sources such as federal funding and revenue from assets, and disclose capital-needs assessment to justify cost projections.
The last toll increases on the Thruway occurred in January 2021 when tolls were boosted for the Cuomo Bridge, those paying by mail, and drivers from out of state. Tolls increased again in January 2022 for the Cuomo Bridge.