Starting July 1, it won't pay to be a deadbeat.
At least, not at the Ga. 400 toll booth, where about 900 drivers a week arrive with empty pockets and drive away with just a ticket warning them to pay back those two quarters, according to the State Road and Tollway Authority. About two-thirds apparently consider that a friendly suggestion, and never pay.
So as of July 1 the authority is cracking down. Instead of getting an IOU in the cash lanes, drivers who don't pay will be hit with a $25 "violation fee."
In a statement, authority director Gena Evans called overdue tolls and fees “money due the state.”
Money for what, though, is anybody's guess. Punishing scofflaws might be fairer to the people who do pay, but it's not needed to pay off the road's construction. As reported in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the authority long ago set aside enough money to retire Ga. 400's entire debt, and then some.
That's not the point, said SRTA spokeswoman Malika Wilkins. "It's a matter of, we're following the law," she said.
There is no way to turn around or exit the road at the toll booth if drivers find they have arrived without the toll money. But there are signs before exits that warn the toll is coming up.
SRTA released a statement saying that the agency already had the right to enforce the fee in the cash lanes but had not done so.
It has, however, been fining violators in the Cruise Card lanes. Since January 2007, those drivers have racked up overdue bills of $44,550 in tolls -- and an additional $2.2 million in fees for not paying the tolls.
This month SRTA has allowed those people to pay off their toll bills at a discount, provided the state hasn't already issued them a legal order. SRTA is not refunding fees already paid.
To claim the discount -- $10 off the $25 -- violations must have taken place between Jan. 1, 2007, and June 30, 2010, and the check made out to SRTA must be postmarked June 30 or earlier. The payments should be mailed to SRTA Violations Department, P. O. Box 2105, Atlanta, GA 30303-2105.
Thanks to the thousands who pay the toll, SRTA currently has $29.5 million in the bank, and owes a total of $17.7 million on the road, according to Wilkins.
The second-to-last big payment comes next week, and the final payment is scheduled for July 1, 2011.
The construction of Ga. 400 inside the Perimeter two decades ago was hugely controversial. Activists feared the effect on neighborhoods, and during the planning, some Atlanta City Council members claimed they'd been misled by the state and did not realize it was to be a toll road, a claim the state refuted. Aiming at the proposed Ga. 400, the council at one point voted to ban all toll roads within the city limits.
Opposition was eased by promises that the toll money would only be used on Ga. 400, and that after the bonds were paid off, the toll would come down.
In years since, the extra toll money has been used to buy land at Atlantic Station, and to plan more toll roads.
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