Mike
Well-Known Member
Officials with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission are defending their financial position in response to recent reports indicating the agency is $7 billion in the red.
“I reassure you, there is no looming financial crisis at the Turnpike Commission,” CEO Roger Nutt said Monday, Aug. 27, in a statement released to Land Line. “We continue to receive favorable bond ratings, and we fully intend to meet all funding obligations to PennDOT – as we’ve done for the last five years.”
Back in January, the state’s auditor general, Jack Wagner, said the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was “drowning in debt” largely because of the controversial state law known as Act 44 of 2007.
Under Act 44, the agency must pay $450 million each year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which spends it on transportation programs unrelated to the Turnpike, such as mass transit.
Lawmakers who approved Act 44, including then-Gov. Ed Rendell, were confident at the time they could convert Interstate 80 into a toll road to meet the annual $450 million obligation. They hadn’t counted on public outcry against the toll plan or the federal government’s dismissal of the state’s application.
The Federal Highway Administration stated at the time that Pennsylvania officials could not prove that 100 percent of the toll proceeds would stay with the highway – something that Pennsylvania officials have attempted to rebut but to no avail.
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“I reassure you, there is no looming financial crisis at the Turnpike Commission,” CEO Roger Nutt said Monday, Aug. 27, in a statement released to Land Line. “We continue to receive favorable bond ratings, and we fully intend to meet all funding obligations to PennDOT – as we’ve done for the last five years.”
Back in January, the state’s auditor general, Jack Wagner, said the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was “drowning in debt” largely because of the controversial state law known as Act 44 of 2007.
Under Act 44, the agency must pay $450 million each year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which spends it on transportation programs unrelated to the Turnpike, such as mass transit.
Lawmakers who approved Act 44, including then-Gov. Ed Rendell, were confident at the time they could convert Interstate 80 into a toll road to meet the annual $450 million obligation. They hadn’t counted on public outcry against the toll plan or the federal government’s dismissal of the state’s application.
The Federal Highway Administration stated at the time that Pennsylvania officials could not prove that 100 percent of the toll proceeds would stay with the highway – something that Pennsylvania officials have attempted to rebut but to no avail.
Full Story
