Ga. 400 tolls to be extended to 2020

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Nothing lasts forever.  Except, maybe, a government revenue stream.

As some cynics had expected for 20 years, the State Road and Tollway Authority, led by Gov. Sonny Perdue, voted Friday to continue the Ga. 400 tolls until 2020.  The vote flies in the face of promises made during the planning of the road that the tolls would come down once the bonds that paid to build it were repaid in 2011.

The toll will stay at 50 cents.  Under the new terms, it will run for 10 years from Friday's vote, SRTA attorney Chris Tomlinson said.

In order to satisfy the original promise that the tolls would come down in 2011, Perdue said, SRTA will see if it can suspend the tolls briefly in 2011.  When they resume, he said, they would be a "new" toll. 

Perdue likened Ga. 400 to a house whose family has outgrown it beyond all expectations.  "There are vastly needed projects we need to do sooner rather than later" with the new toll money, he said.  He said he knew he might be portrayed as breaking a promise, but citizens could trust the promised projects would be the ones built with the new toll revenue.

"There are people who feel strongly about that," Perdue said, speaking of the promises. "If we’re going to grow we can make a decision. We can either decide to provide for the people who are coming to our house to live in our state, or we can decide that we’re not going to have enough seats at the table."

"I think it is a travesty that they go ahead and go back on their word," said Bob Engstrom, a retired chemical company manager who drives Ga. 400. He agrees with Perdue that Ga. 400 needs work, and he understands Perdue's plan is to use the extended toll to fund a list of them, including a completed interchange at I-85.  However, he said, "It is not an issue relative to need for that area. It is an issue of public trust."

Others decried the rushed and secretive run-up to the decision.  SRTA Executive Director Gena Evans said she had met with numerous elected officials and interest groups over the previous eight months.  But over the past week SRTA declined to release information about the suggested projects and proposal to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution until the paper invoked the Georgia Open Records Act. Evans said the projects will go out for public comment.

Evans and SRTA may have spoken to chosen people about the extension, said Robert Coleman, an Alpharetta businessman who pays the toll daily, but for him that was not enough. 

"If I want to do something I’m not going to seek out opponents; I’m going to talk to the people that are on my team," he said. "When are these people going to realize you've got to keep your promises?"

Asked about the secretiveness, Perdue said, "I think your allegation of secrecy is a fabric of your imagination."

Some commuters have commented in favor of keeping the toll, if it means alleviating congestion around the unfinished interchange at I-85 and Ga. 400 or other parts of the corridor.

The state doesn't need the extended toll to finish the I-85 interchange, since the project would cost perhaps $40 million, and SRTA would have had $42.5 million in reserves after the final bond payment next year.  However, other than that, the state is strapped.

Most transportation funding comes from gas taxes paid to the state and federal government.  But most of that is paid as cents per gallon, not cents on the dollar.  That means that as inflation and the cost of road building goes up, gas tax revenues mostly don't.  And as people drive more fuel-efficient cars, the amount they pay can even go down.

Local governments have tried to fill the gap with special local sales taxes, and one likely will be on the ballot for the 10-county Atlanta region in 2012.  But even those revenues are expected to fund a fraction of the road projects that regional planning officials say are needed to free up congestion.

Support and opposition for the toll extension was mixed politically.  The presidents of the North Buckhead Civic Association and the Buckhead Coalition spoke in favor of the deal, with an eye on the I-85 interchange.  That "crippled" interchange dumps expressway traffic onto local streets that are occasionally paralyzed because of it, said Gordon Certain, who leads the north Buckhead group.

Spokesmen for House Speaker David Ralston, Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones and  Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said they opposed the vote.  Ralston noted that the speaker's appointee to the SRTA board who voted to extend  the toll was appointed by his predecessor.  Cagle's appointee was the lone dissenter in the 3-1 vote. As chairman, Perdue did not vote because there was no tie.

Gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal issued a statement against the vote.  A statement from Roy Barnes said he would take the toll down "if there is not a need for improvements on that corridor," but he didn't feel officials had made a strong enough case for the projects. When Barnes was governor he drew criticism when SRTA used Ga. 400 toll revenues to buy land  near Atlantic Station.

At the news conference more than 20 officials stood behind Perdue in support of the vote, including Tad Leithead, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission.

"From a general perspective in this difficult funding environment to take down the one toll we have seems like a step in the wrong direction," Leithead said before the vote.

Some opponents of the vote were there, too.  GOP Rep. Chuck Martin, who represents Alpharetta and portions of Roswell and Johns Creek, said he'd met with Evans earlier on the issue but he had no idea the decision was moving forward or what the projects were.  "It's just not the right process," he said.

The state Department of Transportation's board met before the SRTA vote in order to pave the way. DOT approved a new lease that would extend SRTA's control over Ga. 400 beyond 2011.

That meeting was fractious, with some board members complaining they had too little information about the program and didn't understand the urgency.  Three hung up rather than continue the meeting, which was only announced Wednesday.  The 13-member board voted 7-1 to extend the lease.  .

Staff writer Kyle Wingfield contributed to this article.

GA. 400 FINANCES

In June 1991, the SRTA board approved the sale of $96.1 million in bonds to build Ga. 400.  Those bonds will be paid off July 1, 2011.   Some SRTA figures for the fiscal year 2011:

• Expected Ga. 400 toll revenue: $20.8 million
• Final Ga. 400 bond payments: $8.8 million
• Toll Plaza operating expenses: $7.8 million.
• Total SRTA operating expenses: $14.6 million
• Amount of reserves, almost entirely from toll revenues, left after final bond payment in 2011: $42.5 million

Source: SRTA