1. The Bayway is not overloaded.
Despite the fact that backups occur from the lift bridges during peak traffic times, and on holiday weekends, traffic flows smoothly on the Bayway. Waits for the lift bridges are annoying, but are generally about four minutes. Delays of that length occur regularly on more heavily traveled roads like Rt. 19 and east-west thoroughfares further north in the county. Minor glitches can cause much longer delays on the Howard Franklin Bridge.
2. Changing the bridges schedule could reduce the problem.
Few boats pass under the bridge at any single lifting. Informal observation suggests it is one or two. Few of us have ever seen more than four pass at one lifting. Asking boaters to wait ten more minutes would allow the bridge to open on the hour and half hour, rather than three times each hour. Boasters could plan for that. Auto delays would be reduced by 1/3. There would be less wear and tear on the mechanism.
3. Toll payers have already done more than their share.
When the tolls were first established the public was assured that once the bonds were paid off tolls would disappear. The bonds have been paid off for more than 20 years, but the tolls are still with us.
Florida Law, Chapter 85-364 provides that Bayway toll revenues were to be used to widen the Bayway to Gulf Blvd. once the bonds were retired. Instead, funds were diverted to other road projects. Now they aren’t there for the widening mandated in 1985.
Those who pay Bayway tolls also pay taxes for highways just like everyone else. Their taxes pay to improve others’ roads, but no one’s taxes pay for the Bayway
4. Bayway tolls single out Bayway users for unfair treatment.
All other bridges in Pinellas County have had tolls removed. The Dunedin Causeway, the Park Blvd. Bridge, and, the Central Ave bridge are recent examples. The Bayside Bridge and the new Clearwater Beach Bridge were built without tolls. The John’s Pass Bridge is being rebuilt and expanded without tolls. Equity demands that non-toll revenue be found to widen Bayway bridges.
Further, large numbers of Bayway users use neither Bayway bridge, or only one of them. Yet all would pay toll to widen both. If tolls work on the basis that users pay, many who will pay are not bridge users.
5. Many Bayway users have no other choice.
Nearly everyone has an option as to how to drive home. There are parallel streets, streets coming from another direction, etc. If something goes wrong there are options, free options.
But Bayway residents must use the Bayway to go anywhere, and to get home. No alternative roads have been built. And the Bayway costs us each and every time we use it. When friends come to see us, they too must pay. The toll increase would make access to our homes even more expensive. This is unfair.
6. Repeal of Chapter 85-364 is unwise.
Repeal would remove the control over tolls from elected officials to bureaucrats at the FDOT. They could set them anywhere they choose with out the approval of voters or those we elect. Their current outrageous proposal demonstrates how arbitrarily they will continue to act.
Repeal would also remove the provision that Bayway tolls must be used to widen the Bayway to Gulf Blvd. Once that is gone our toll money could go anywhere. It has been diverted before. It would now be infinitely easier for FDOT to do so.
Once FDOT controls the Bayway it could even sell the Bayway to a private corporation. Such sale of public roads in Florida has been proposed. Imagine what could happen to our tolls if they were set by executives eager to maximize profits. With no alternative roads we would have no choice but to pay.
The proposed repeal is being done quietly. Its proponents want to do it quickly before the public realizes what is at stake. A public hearing on the higher tolls has already been set for March 12 on the assumption that the repeal will have taken place very early in the legislative session.
7. Increased tolls would have undesirable economic and social effects.
These are numerous because the Bayway is the gateway to the use of south Pinellas beaches. These beaches are both an economic engine for the tourist industry as well as centers of community recreation.
Ft. DeSoto is a free public park with the best beach in the nation. All of us are proud of this gem created by our county government. FDOT’s new tolls would be 20 times higher than current tolls. The park would no longer be free. Many families would be priced out of its use. Tourists would go elsewhere.
Tourist businesses, hotels, restaurants, and shops, in St. Pete Beach would see their revenues drop as both locals and tourists choose to go to less costly locations. If the restaurant tab were automatically $7 higher on the Beach, who would choose to go there? That’s what the higher toll would add. Thousands who live along the Bayway, as well as in Pinellas Point, Maximo, Dolphin Cay, Lakewood, Broadwater, etc. would find new places to do business. Economic dislocation would result.
Those businesses provide jobs for many lower income workers. They would pay more to go to work. Students working part-time to pay college expenses, especially those at Eckerd College, would have to work an extra hour to make up for increased tolls.
Homeowners who purchased along the Bayway did so assuming the tolls would remain as they have been. With higher tolls they may now find it harder to sell their homes especially in the current difficult real estate climate.
8. The toll increase represents a misuse of the user fee principle.
Public projects are paid for in two ways: taxes and user fees, most by taxes. User fees are appropriate when a limited number of people with special interests benefit from a non-essential facility.
The Bayway is essential for all who use it. It is absolutely essential in the event of storm. It is more than a convenience for businesses on the Beach, and for those who work there. It is the only street leading home for thousands all of whom pay road taxes plus the additional toll. Yet their taxes are not used for road they use the most.
The increased tolls will pay for new bridges, but thousands who live east and north of the bridges don’t necessarily use them. Collecting tolls at the east end of the Bayway forces them to pay a user fee for non-use. That misuses the user fee concept.
9. Other options have not been fully explored.
Other bridges have been paid for by the Penny for Pinellas tax just renewed at the last election. Funds from that source should be sought.
Bayway toll funds diverted for road construction elsewhere should be returned plus interest.
Federal dollars like those used for the Central Ave. bridge to Treasure Island should be sought.
FDOT should draw on its legislative appropriation to build these bridges. If it is such a high enough priority let it use its other funds.
Sunshine Skyway toll revenues are now being used for road construction in Manatee County. A portion could also be used for the Bayway.
10. Such a large toll increase could well be self-defeating.
If the size of the toll increase deters Bayway usage, as seems likely, the new tolls will not generate projected revenue, bonds will not be retired on time, and interest costs will go up substantially.