Tedisco Calls for Senate Hearing on NYS Thruway Toll Hike

Senator Jim Tedisco today is calling on the Chair of the New York State Senate Transportation Committee to hold a public hearing on the New York State Thruway Authority’s controversial toll hike proposal.

In the midst of the highest inflation in over 40 years, the Thruway Authority is proposing a 5 percent Thruway toll hike for EZ-Pass users and 75 percent increase for non-EZ-Pass motorists, many of whom can least afford to maintain having an EZ-pass, who must rely on the Thruway to drive to work, medical appointments, shopping and take their kids to school.

The state will be receiving $22 billion from the federal government and voters last month approved a $4.2 environmental bond act for infrastructure funding. Tedisco noted that the last thing the state should be doing now is raising tolls, which is just another tax on low-and-moderate-income New Yorkers who can afford it the least.

Tedisco is sponsoring bi-partisan legislation S.173/A.5953, with Assemblyman Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor) to require legislative approval for any Thruway toll increase.

“The Senate must hold a public hearing on the proposed Thruway Toll Hike so we can ask questions of the Thruway Authority as well as get feedback from all parties who could be impacted by the increase including motorists, truckers, and our business community. The un-elected, faceless bureaucrats at the Thruway Authority need to be held accountable and answer why this toll hike is necessary and why did they promise the legislature and people of New York State in the early 1990s that the Thruway would be toll-less for all New Yorkers by the new millennium. They reneged on that promise and now want to increase tolls yet again,” said Senator Jim Tedisco.

Editor’s Note: Tedisco’s letter to Senator Kennedy is attached.