The Massachusetts Senate drew a line in the sand today, vowing not to hike anyone's taxes or tolls until a massive consolidation of the state's transportation network is completed or at least well underway.
With Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi waxing Hamletesque about a gas tax increase and toll hikes, Senate President Therese Murray was blunt about her intentions. "We're not going to talk about the gas tax," she said.
She also urged the Turnpike Authority to hold off on its plan to raise tolls and rejected the governor's call for saddling the Massachusetts Port Authority with a big chunk of the Big Dig debt, as well as the administration of the Pike's operations within Route 128.
The Senate's consolidation plan is big and complicated and unlikely to generate the type of quick savings needed to bail out the MBTA and the Turnpike Authority. It's also something that should have been done years ago instead of now, when the state's transportation network is buckling under financial pressure. Still, Murray, backed by many Democratic and Republican colleagues, finally gave the transportation debate some
badly needed focus.
She called for the creation of the Massachusetts Surface Transportation Authority, which would absorb the operations of the Turnpike, the MBTA, and the Massachusetts Highway Department. It would also take control of all roads and bridges currently managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Tobin Bridge, currently run by Massport.
The new agency would be run by a chief executive and overseen by an 11-person board appointed by the governor. The board would be headed by the governor's Secretary of Transportation. All the revenues of the existing operations would be pooled while expenses and management (accounting, procurement, human resources, legal etc.) would be shared.
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About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
Murray seemed to undercut her own consolidation argument when she told the gathering of reporters in the Senate Reading Room that "nobody is going to be losing jobs" under the restructuring. But then Sen. Steven Baddour, the chairman of the Transportation Committee, jumped into say that millions of dollars could be saved by cutting redundant jobs and eliminating consultants. He estimated, somewhat vaguely, total savings at $6 billion over 20 years.
Murray acknowledged the consolidation effort will probably not be enough to solve the immediate transportation crisis, but she recited the mantra that reform was necessary before asking taxpayers to pony up any more money for a broken system. Asked if the Senate will ultimately have to support new revenues fior transportation, Murray said: "Most likely we will at the end of the day."
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