Christopher Maxwell, president of the Rhode Island Trucking Association (RITA), is having an “I told you so moment.” He expects it won’t be the last time.
He spoke with Fleet Owner days after the state’s Department of Revenue estimated that collections of truck registrations, part of a plan to implement truck-only tolls to fund highway maintenance, are $1.1 million below forecasts.
“Before the first toll is collected or first lawsuit is filed they are stumbling and bumbling over themselves,” Maxwell said.
During negotiations of the “RhodeWorks” plan, passed last year, the state lowered registration fees for in-state carriers. RITA warned lawmakers their estimates were flawed because they failed to account for how many “out-of-state trucks” would be granted a partial reduction in fees, based on how many miles they run in the state.
He said a “lack of knowledge” among the bills’ supporters is giving “$1.1 million back into the very pockets of the very trucks they vilified,” rather than from the beginning seeking a more equitable way to fund highways.
Peter Alviti Jr., head of the state’s Department of Transportation, recently announced the locations for the first two tolling spots, and said they would be active before the end of the year.
Maxwell said the snafu with the registration fees is an “omen of what is to come.”
The state’s revenue projections from the truck-only tolls are way too high, he said, when factoring in construction costs and more truckers taking alternative routes.
“We feel politicians did not have the spines to toll everyone. They would toll trucks because they are easy targets,” he said.
Maxwell predicted in time, after the truck-only toll plan fails to bring in enough revenue, the result will be tolls on all vehicles.
Meanwhile, the association has not given up seeing the plan repealed in the legislature, but does not anticipate efforts to be successful. Besides possible legal action, they are also waiting to see a new federal infrastructure spending plan and what signals the new administration may send regarding tolling.
