Posted on 05/23/2003 3:08:45 PM PDT by NautiNurse
Sunshine Skyway bridge drivers might not want to remove the spare change from their cars just yet.
A proposal to increase the bridge's toll by 50 percent, thought to have died on the regular legislative session's last day, has been revived in the ongoing special session on the state budget.
The Senate already has passed the renewed measure (SB 24A), which would increase the toll on the bridge that connects Manatee and Pinellas counties from $1 to $1.50 each way in July. The bill also would increase tolls on Florida's Turnpike, Alligator Alley, the Beeline-East Expressway and two bridges in the Panhandle.
The House has yet to take up the bill, but its passage appears certain: Both houses overwhelmingly passed earlier versions of the bill during the regular session. But the proposed increase died because each bill's language was different and time ran out before the two bodies could vote on a compromise bill.
Like its predecessors, the bill's latest version would not apply the toll increase to drivers who use the SunPass or E-pass electronic toll systems.
It also would allow the state to use Skyway toll revenues to back bonds for other road projects in Manatee, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. The Florida Department of Transportation said it likely would use Manatee's share to make State Road 64 six lanes between 39th Street East and Interstate 75 and between Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and Lorraine Road.
During the regular session, legislators passed a bill (SB 676) that would allow the state to bond toll revenue but did not contain a toll increase. Gov. Jeb Bush has not indicated whether he will sign the measure, his spokeswoman said.
Sen. Daniel Webster, a Republican from Winter Garden, proposed the toll hikes to help offset Bush's proposed diversion of $200 million from the state's transportation trust fund toward nontransportation uses, his office said.
Webster also wants to ensure those toll roads and bridges become self-sufficient without having to tap into a revolving loan fund to cover operating and maintenance expenses, his office said.
The Skyway is a big money-maker for the state: It generated $15.9 million in toll revenue last fiscal year, more than twice the $7 million the FDOT spent that year to operate, maintain and pay debt service on the 4.1-mile bridge.
The FDOT has always sent the excess revenue to the transportation trust fund, said Lowell Clary, the agency's financial planning manager. Once in the trust fund, the money was available for road projects anywhere in the state.
Webster's bill would earmark that money for local projects, Clary said. While the FDOT supports that aspect of the bill, it has not taken a stance on the proposed toll increases, he said.
"That we're leaving up to the Legislature," Clary said.
The bill also would increase tolls on Alligator Alley - the stretch of Interstate 75 through the Everglades - from $1.50 to $2 each way. It also would advance by a year planned toll increases on the Florida Turnpike system, which includes the Veterans Expressway in Tampa. Tolls would increase from an average of 6 cents a mile to an average of 7.5 cents a mile.
The Skyway's toll was last raised in 1982, when it was raised from 50 cents to $1 to help pay for a new bridge.
I have the SunPass--it's a worthy investment for commuters.
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