At Thruway toll hike hearing, a case for union jobs, a senior's lament and 170 empty seats

WEST NYACK - Eventually, somewhere in the records of the New York State Thruway Authority, in a report related to the 2023 toll-increase proposal, will be notes about Tuesday's hearing at the Palisades Center Mall. Those notes will reflect that, over the course of three hours, there were seven speakers who addressed a panel of Thruway officials about a plan that will raise tolls on the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge.

The Thruway wants to boost tolls on the 570-mile highway by 5% in 2024 and 2027, and the toll on the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge by 50 cents a year for the next four years for those using New York's EZ-Pass cashless tolling system. While there will be discounts for commuters and Rockland County residents, those who don't have New York EZ-Pass tags or any EZ-Pass tags at all will pay $13.56 for a single trip into Westchester on the $4 billion bridge.

Among the speakers, three were staunchly in favor of the "toll adjustment proposal." Toll hikes mean infrastructure spending on union jobs, they said.

Another represented state Sen. Bill Weber and read a letter acknowledging the need for additional revenue for capital projects but urging the Thruway Authority to deepen discounts for Rocklanders and commuters. Another was concerned that higher tolls could mean higher bus fares and bemoaned the lack of public transportation in Rockland. Another, from Long Island, spoke about removing tolls and giving tax breaks to New Yorkers who pay tolls.

A senior steps forward

And then there was 72-year-old Ilan Shulein, a retiree from Haverstraw who lives on a fixed income.

Shulein, a 43-year resident of Rockland, stepped to the podium, looked at the dais and spoke from his heart, about his limited means, about running out of options, about prices that have increased "phenomenally."

Long gone is Rockland's West Shore commuter rail line, he said, with no appetite in Albany to revive it. Rocklanders don't have the Metro North access that Westchester residents have. People in Rockland, he said, are "captives of the state."

"The only choice that I have is getting in my car," Shulein said softly.

He told the panel about his trips to Queens, to visit the grave of his wife, Jane, in Montefiore Cemetery, a journey that means crossing the Cuomo and Whitestone bridges. A toll hike on the Cuomo Bridge would raise the cost of that trip.

He had a modest proposal.

"I'm asking here if the New York State Thruway Authority can consider to give an additional senior discount to people in my situation," he said. "We live by what we have: Social Security, if we're lucky we have a pension, and that's it. It's fixed. It doesn't go anywhere. But the costs are killing us."

Then, having spoken, he asked the panelists if they had any questions for him. They did not. He thanked them and took his seat.

A tugboat captain and a cup of coffee

Gregory Sheehan of Valley Cottage, of the Union of International Operating Engineers Local 825, who worked on the building of the $4 billion bridge, spoke in favor of the toll hike. For the better part of six years, Sheehan, now 39, operated one of the tugboats that ferried workers to the site and moved the barges and cranes into position.

"I know what it costs. You're out there, you're seeing the materials being used. How many men were out there working. It doesn't come from nowhere," Sheehan said. "This stretch of road that runs from Connecticut all the way up to Buffalo, connects New Jersey and Pennsylvania, everything else, it's important. So the modest increase, I mean, it's a cup of coffee here and there."

Tuesday's session, held in the Adler Community room next to the mall's ice-skating rink, was the Thruway's only in-person toll hearing planned in the Lower Hudson Valley. Two hundred chairs were set up in a room that can accommodate 400, but only about 30 people attended.

They included a group of union workers, some of whom wore their DayGlo work vests. At one point, they snapped a group photo among the oversized displays that made the case for the toll increase.

(Those who missed Tuesday's meeting can email comments to tollcomments@thruway.ny.gov or mail them to: Toll Comments, c/o Legal Department, New York State Thruway Authority, 200 Southern Blvd., P.O. Box 189, Albany, NY 12201-0189.)

A listening tour

On the panel were: Frank Hoare, Thruway interim executive director; Brent Howard, head of the Thruway's New York district; Karen Osborn, interim chief financial officer; Diana Nebiolo, the agency's new head of revenue management; and Matthew Trapasso, Thruway chief of staff.

Only Hoare spoke, and briefly. They were there to listen.

Before the meeting began, Hoare stayed on message in a brief interview: The toll hike is the only way the Thruway can raise money for maintaining its system, he said. No federal or state funds are budgeted.

The turnout at last week's sessions in Buffalo and Syracuse, he said, was similarly light: three speakers in Buffalo; five in Syracuse.

"We take that as a sign that folks understand the need for raising tolls, so we can have a safe and reliable Thruway system, a road system that costs money to operate, to maintain and to build," he said.

The money raised through higher tolls — which would kick in on Jan. 1, 2024, if approved by the Thruway board later this year — would be significant. The plan could raise $1.9 billion by 2031. Hoare said drivers will see that money put to use.

"Folks here in the Hudson Valley will see it in our capital programs," Hoare said. "They'll see it on the Cuomo Bridge. They'll see it on the roadways up throughout the Hudson Valley."

Higher tolls, dwindling discounts

Under the toll hike proposal, the NY E-ZPass rate to cross the Cuomo Bridge would rise 50 cents per year, beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, landing at $7.75 on Jan. 1, 2027.

There are discounts for regular NY E-ZPass commuters who make 20 or more trips per month and discounts for registered Westchester and Rockland residents who use NY E-ZPass. In 2021, more than 30% of all tolls collected on the Cuomo Bridge were discounted through commuter and resident plans, Thruway spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said.

Those vehicles without transponders have their license plates photographed and are billed at a higher rate through Tolls By Mail. And they'll be billed plenty, if this toll hike is approved. The Thruway would raise the Tolls By Mail rate differential — the amount paid above the NY E-ZPass rate — to 75% from 30%.

The proposal would also collapse into one the current two-tiered system for out-of-state drivers or those without transponders. Drivers who use other states' E-ZPass accounts currently pay a 15% differential, not the 30% for Tolls By Mail.

If the plan is approved, both would be charged the same 75% differential. For example, a driver from New Jersey who has a NJ E-ZPass account and crosses the Cuomo Bridge occasionally would see their toll more than double. Today, they would pay $6.61. By 2027, they would pay $13.56.

Sample tolls

Here's what a trip could cost you if you are driving from Nyack to Tarrytown in 2027, after the full effect of the tolls kicks in. (Tolls are collected for eastbound trips only.)

• If you are a NY EZ-Pass tagholder, a single trip would cost you $7.75.

• If you are registered Rockland or Westchester resident using NY EZ-Pass, you would pay $6.20. (A 20% discount, up from the current 17% discount.)

• If you are a registered commuter making more than 20 trips per month using NY EZ-Pass, you would pay $4.65. (A 40% discount.)

• If you don't use a NY E-ZPass tag or use Tolls by Mail, the same trip would cost $13.56. (The E-ZPass base rate of $7.75 plus the 75% differential of $5.81.)

What's next

The next public session on the Thruway's toll hike will be May 22 in Glenmont, south of Albany, from 5 to 8 p.m. The final hearing will be virtual, on June 5, from 4 to 7 p.m.

The public comments and those mailed and emailed to the Thruway Authority will be compiled into a report for the board of directors to consider before their final vote, expected in the fall.

Reach Peter D. Kramer at pkramer@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: Toll-hike hearing: Thruway holds hearing in Rockland