Senator to push toll road lease bill  

January 31, 2007

TOM HESTER Jr. Associated Press Writer

TRENTON, N.J. -- A state senator planned to unveil legislation Wednesday that would make it legal for the state to lease toll roads to a private company.

Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, said the lease arrangement would raise billions to help solve state budget woes and free up money for property tax relief and other needs.

Meanwhile, Corzine administration officials, a skeptical lawmaker and national experts on privatizing public assets were scheduled to debate Wednesday whether leasing the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway or Atlantic City Expressway would be a smart move.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine hasn't endorsed leasing toll roads, but his administration is studying the possibility, and the governor said the state must find a way to raise cash from state properties if it's to solve chronic financial problems.

Leasing the New Jersey lottery and selling development rights to state-owned real estate are among other possibilities.

Corzine wants to use the revenue to pay down state debt. The state will owe $2.7 billion in debt next fiscal year.

Once that's done, he wants to be able to finance property tax relief, school construction, state college and university expansion and open space preservation, among other needs.

Lesniak claims leasing the toll roads not only would financial benefits but also would provide homeland security and highway maintenance safeguards.

The toll road leasing idea also was to be the topic of a forum at Rutgers University featuring state officials, regional planners and a Northeastern University professor and author.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, was also expected to participate. Wisniewski is Assembly Transportation Committee chairman and skeptical of leasing toll roads.

"The financial problems we are currently facing in this state were decades in the making," he said. "Attempting to solve them overnight with a long-term lease of the Turnpike or other toll roads is not a rational solution."

Democrats who control the Legislature are cautious, aware that Indiana Republicans lost their 52-48 House advantage in November after agreeing to lease the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years to a Spanish-Australian consortium for $3.85 billion.

A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll of New Jersey voters taken earlier this month found 54 percent think leasing the Turnpike is a "bad idea," compared to just 17 percent who support it.

New Jersey officials have been eyeing the Indiana deal and one in Chicago, which will get $1.83 billion for a 99-year lease of the Chicago Skyway.

In Indiana, the consortium can begin increasing tolls annually beginning in 2010 by either 2 percent, the rate of inflation or the increase in gross domestic product. Most of the lease money is slated to be used to finance highway and other transportation projects.

The Chicago deal allows the company to double car tolls to $4 over the next decade and continue to raise them after that. Most money from the deal will be used to pay highway and other city debt and create a long-term reserve fund.