Williams, other mayors urged to oppose turnpike money diversion
Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams
TOLEDO (AP) — Mayor Carty Finkbeiner is urging Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and other mayors of cities along the Ohio Turnpike to oppose a plan that diverts about $20 million a year in turnpike revenue to pay for Gov. Ted Strickland’s $1.6 billion economic stimulus plan.
Strickland’s goal is to create 57,000 jobs by investing in road, bridge and water projects, along with renewable energy technologies. The plan would raise $970 million in bond sales, but turnpike revenue also would be diverted to help pay off $200 million in borrowing plus interest through 2030.
Cities along the turnpike could lose a total of $420 million over the time, depending on the bond’s financing terms.
That would jeopardize potential economic development and transportation projects in northern Ohio cities, Finkbeiner wrote in a letter sent Friday to the mayors of Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown.
Williams said Sunday he didn’t know any details of the plan yet, but he would talk to the other mayors and have a comment after that.
The situation is unfair because turnpike tolls are almost exclusively paid by residents of those cities, Finkbeiner said.
To divert the revenue, lawmakers would have to change law requiring turnpike revenue to be spent within one mile of the toll road’s corridor across northern Ohio.
The Ohio Turnpike Commission has not objected to the move but has been asked to appear today before the House Finance and Appropriations Committee to discuss how it would affect turnpike finances.
“Basically, you’d have a situation where people who live in northern Ohio and use the turnpike, and businesses for whom trucking deliveries use the turnpike are the ones who’ll be paying the bills to be used elsewhere in the state,” said Rep. Pete Ujvagi, a Toledo Democrat. “There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, but there has to be some equitable process. How can we in northern Ohio take greater advantage of this?”
The $1.6 billion jobs package is a compromise reached by Strickland, a Democrat, and the Republican leaders of the state Legislature.
When first announced, the $20 million a year in diverted turnpike revenue was described by the Strickland administration as excess revenue anticipated from increased traffic because of the new E-Z Pass electronic toll payment system being installed next year. But the bill submitted to lawmakers does not specify that the money must be surplus funds.
“At this time of limited resources, the governor and legislative leaders believe the best use of this state revenue is to invest it in Ohio’s economy to stimulate the creation of tens of thousands of new Ohio jobs and lay the foundation for long-term economic growth and prosperity,” Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said Sunday.