By Martin DiCaro
(Washington, DC — WAMU) The agency that’s running the Silver Line rail project to Dulles Airport is holding public hearings on its plan to dramatically raise tolls on the Dulles Toll Road to pay for the project. But a Federal Court of Appeals will consider a lawsuit that could derail the project.
The class action suit argues the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) does not have the legal right to raise tolls on drivers to pay for trains. Only an elected legislature can raise tolls in order to pay for something other than the maintenance and operation of the Dulles Toll Road itself, the suit claims. . . .
This article provides an excellent overview of the lawsuit now in Federal appeals court. It is there because the plantiffs' claim was dismissed in district court. You can read the full text here.
From this reader's non-legal perspective, the case has merit. I have no problem paying a user fee that covers the cost of operating, maintaining, and even improving the Dulles Toll Road. If that were the case now, the full toll on the toll road would not exceed $1.25 (instead of $2.25) to cover the less than $60 million it costs this year to carry out those functions. The addition of finance charges for Phase 1 nearly double that annual cost ($109 million in 2012 per MWAA) and our tolls reflect it. Long term, assuming 2.5% inflation, tolls covering related costs would escalate to $3.35 rather than the $18.75 MWAA now forecasts for 2050.
The obverse of having toll fees cover only the cost of the service provided is for cynical politicians incessantly seeking re-election to turn over more and more of their taxing authorities on totally unrelated programs to toll collecting entities, such as MWAA. In the end, we could see toll road users, state park users, Virginia ABC stores, and others charging huge fees to help pay for Virginia's education, social, and many other programs.
Where's the line in the sand?
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