CATCH Articles:
Staff to report on expressway tolls
Jan 14, 2008
Council will be receiving a report on tolling the Red Hill Valley Parkway after several citizens suggested the option at last week’s budget consultation sessions. Despite the prospect of a new revenue source, councillors are clearly divided on the issue.
Tolling the new road was raised by four of the fifteen delegations who made presentations in the public consultation opportunities on January 7. That drew response from several councillors – some seeking more information and others clearly opposed to considering tolls.
Brad Clark asked to be provided with a 2004 consultant’s study and accompanying report from staff that calculated a 10 cent per kilometre toll on the valley road would generate net revenues of about $14 million a year. That request was echoed by Mayor Eisenberger, who like Clark wasn’t on council when the report had originally been presented.
“I certainly at one point advocated for tolling trucks,” noted the Mayor. “I thought that makes all kinds of sense.”
That drew a quick response from east end councillor Sam Merulla who described the suggestion as “offensive.”
“For the first time in the history of the east end we finally have trucks that are not driving north south a stone’s throw away from schools, that I can actually make a left hand turn at every intersection on the first light, and I don’t want to impede that,” he declared. “The east end built this city. It’s been the backbone of this city as well as its industrial base. Those residents have to deal with truck traffic far too long, and tolling is unacceptable.
Bob Bratina clearly had a different view, asking a series of questions of staff of the expressway that confirmed the city should be setting aside $6-10 million a year to cover the lifecycle costs – over and above the $2.65 million annual maintenance costs and the approximately $8 million currently each year on debt repayment.
Gerry Davis, general manager of infrastructure planning agreed that the city can’t afford to set aside the lifecycle costs, but city treasurer Joe Rinaldo noted that it isn’t doing that for any other roads.
“As I understand it, the strategy is that once we pay the debt off, which is about 20 years, we’ll look at the capital reserves?”, asked Bratina.
“That would be when council would have the flexibility of doing that,” replied Rinaldo. “The important thing is to have a sustainable amount of dollars for capital that will allow you to replace it when you need it.”
Davis went on to explain that the city is currently spending $45 million a year less than it needs to for road maintenance and replacement.
“We should be spending in the magnitude of $75-85 million a year on roads and bridges,” he said. “And what Joe was just saying, we’re trying to build up to that amount annually. So once we get there, there still will be a backlog, but it puts us on a sustainability path.”
Mountain councillor Tom Jackson asked for and received assurances that only a report was being requested at this time.
“I appreciate and respect that, because other comments are flowing in about the possibilities, the potentialities, and like councillor Merulla I’ve had nothing but compliments including from my residents, up along the Brow, top of the Kenilworth loop, Upper Ottawa, who are thrilled with half the heavy truck traffic that used to embark upon those roads since Red Hill’s been open,” said Jackson.
Clark said he hadn’t meant to offend anyone or make them nervous by simply asking for a report he hadn’t seen. He recalled that the provincial government that he was part of had been unwilling to allow tolling because it was presented as a way of covering all the costs of the expressway, including the 60 percent paid for by the Ontario government.
“The province’s position was that since they paid for 50 percent of the highway, if you were going to toll for recouping all of the costs then you would naturally have to reimburse the province for that amount of money,” he explained, noting that “there are tolling arrangements across North America for maintenance tolls which is a much smaller toll and cost or service fee.”
Merulla got in the last shot on the issue, demanding that the report from staff also include the benefits he believes are being generated by the expressway in the form of economic growth for the city.