Massachusetts Turnpike

Toll collectors have priced themselves out of a job at the Massachusetts Turnpike. The base pay plus benefits of a fulltime collector cost the Turnpike Authority $71k/yr ($35.70/hour). With seniority some staff collect tolls on a base rate of $80k/yr, and with overtime make as much as $90k/yr, the Turnpike Authority says. (Contract suppliers of toll collections services typically employ staff at about $11/hour or about $22k/yr with scant benefits.)
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The Massachusetts Turnpike will get a little financial relief ($6.3m/yr) through shedding some responsibilities to other state agencies under a plan announced today by the Secretary of Transportation and Turnpike chairman Bernard Cohen:

- Mass Highway department will take over bridge inspections on the Turnpike, estimated to save it $2.5m/yr
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The Massachusetts Turnpike board last week deferred decisions on a budget for the next financial year amid fears that its deteriorating financial situation might cause its credit rating to be downgraded to junk bond status. 645 words  read more »

For more than a decade the Turnpike Authority has been a regular dispenser of political pork in Massachusetts. Each year since 1996 for example under the guise of tourist promotion it has provided scores of handouts to groups around the state. By Washington DC pork standards the Boston pork has been pretty trivial - tens of thousands from Beacon Hill compared to multi-millions from Capitol Hill.

The Turnpike Authority's tourism grant program is required by law to be: 949 words  read more »

Massachusetts Turnpike chief executive Alan LeBovidge said today the Turnpike has not been bailed out by the state. The term "bailout" has been widely used in reports there to characterize moves to have the state stand behind about $800m of Turnpike debt. LeBovidge told us today: "There hasn't been any bailout." He called the guarantees of Turnpike debt "assistance" by the state to reduce the Turnpike's financing costs. 809 words  read more »

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is getting negative local press for the number of its workers that earn more than $100k/year, while the Turnpike faces financial difficulty. The Boston Herald having obtained the payroll under freedom of information report that 43 Turnpike employees grossed over$100k.
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LETTER: Your article (http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/3615) about thievery among Masspike toll takers omits that the Masspike classification equipment actually could not pick up the particular dodge that the toll takers were doing.  At the tunnels (and not the rest of the pike) taxis and other commercial vehicles pay a higher rate than other 2-axle vehicles.  Treadles and profilers cannot tell the difference between a taxi and a car; it’s up to the toll taker to key it manually.  The cabbies were complaining that they would hand over a commer 148 words  read more »

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has quietly sponsored legislation to allow the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to refinance on the state's security, making the state liable for the Turnpike's debt if it defaults. Normally the Turnpike Authority's borrowing is secured only by the net toll revenues of the Turnpike. They are called "non-recourse" loans because the bondholders have no recourse to the state if revenues are insufficient.
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The AP is reporting that Massachusetts state police are charging ten current and former toll collectors of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority with theft of tolls. A Suffolk District Attorney is quoted as saying that the charges are the result of a seven month long investigation. The toll collectors were taking anything between $20 and $150 per shift. 1129 words  read more »

Massachusetts Turnpike is talking most about it, but a number of toll authorities are facing higher financing costs or difficulties associated with turmoil in the financial markets. The Mass Turnpike Authority today delayed refinancing $127m of 'auction rate' Big Dig borrowings because of doubts about the strength of Ambac, one of the big bond insurers.
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George III's Massachusetts taxman was tarred and feathered by the mob in Boston. Today's chief taxman gets sentenced by the popularly elected governor to try run the state Turnpike.
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The Massachusetts Ethics Commission has charged former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) chairman and CEO Matt Amorello with altering the Turnpike's sick pay benefits rule to his personal benefit on the day before he announced his retirement in July 2006. The Commission says Amorello changed retirement rules under which he was entitled to $15k of sick leave compensation to a rule which provided him with $75k. 767 words  read more »

A bill has been filed in the Massachusetts state legislature to block toll increases approved on Monday by the Turnpike Authority board. The bill SB2086 is titled "An Act relative to freezing the Massachusetts Turnpike tolls at current levels."
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The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority says that consultants at URS made a $6m "error" in forecasting the revenue yield of toll increases approved recently. They had said the 25c Turnpike Extension toll increases and 50c tunnel toll rises would increase revenues $24m or 16%.

URS have been asked to redo their forecasts and the Turnpike has also hired an independent reviewer, Turnpike chief executive Mary Jean O'Meara says.
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Massachusetts Turnpike will have an RFP out for a new ten year toll services contract this summer. Spokesman John Carlisle says reports suggesting TransCore were fired were a bit misleading.

"They are most welcome to bid for the new contract" he said.

"We did think the prices they quoted for a couple of modifications were a bit high, but the pricing did meet the terms of the contract. We saw problems in the contract they were working under." 1021 words  read more »