More of our future if that steaming crap pile of an I-5 Bridge/Loot rail project ever sees the light of day.

Speaks for itself.

Some could pay $7 to cross Tacoma Narrows bridge

Drivers would pay $7 to cross the Tacoma Narrows bridge using photo tolling under a recommendation by a citizens advisory committee Wednesday night.

CHRISTIAN HILL; Staff writer

Published: 11/18/1012:05 am Updated: 11/18/10 3:45 am

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Drivers would pay $7 to cross the Tacoma Narrows bridge using photo tolling under a recommendation by a citizens advisory committee Wednesday night.

The proposed toll is high for a reason: Committee members wanted to dissuade people from using the option as much as possible.

The nine-member commission – with one vacant seat – is concerned that photo tolling will cost too much in lost revenue and eventually lead to higher tolls for drivers who use transponders or stop at tollbooths to pay for their crossing.

“We’ve got a working revenue source … and let’s not mess with it,” said Jim Pasin, a committee member from Gig Harbor who brought forward the proposal. “We know there are a couple of things that need to be fixed. Let’s take care of those and leave the rest of it alone.”

The vote was 6-1. Committee Chairman Alan Weaver voted no, voicing concern that the recommendation, if approved, would require legislative tweaking. Committee member Caroline Belleci was absent.

The state Transportation Commission has the final say on the matter and will consider the recommendation next month.

With photo tolling, a camera would capture the license plate of a vehicle and a bill would be mailed to the vehicle’s registered owner.

Chief among Pasin’s concerns, which were shared by other committee members, were that some photos of license plate numbers would be unreadable and bills would be mailed to invalid addresses. He also worried that the option would mean less interest revenue because drivers would have 80 days to pay.

Staff members had said a photo toll of $4.25 – the $2.75 transponder toll plus $1.50 to pay the expenses of tracking down the registered owner and mailing the bill – would pencil out.

Committee members were leery of their numbers in reaching that conclusion and rebuffed their later suggestion of $5.50.

Under the adopted proposal, a $5 late fee would be assessed if the bill wasn’t paid within 30 days. If the bill was left unpaid for 80 days, a $40 civil penalty would be added.

The late fee and penalty would replace the current $52 fine for failure to pay a toll – $40 of which goes to Pierce County with the remainder dedicated to the bridge. State Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, called the current arrangement a “cash cow for county courts.”The bridge would receive all the money under the recommendation, after paying costs.

The state Transportation Commission is considering tolls starting in the spring for the 520 floating bridge using transponders and photo tolling. There will be no toll booths.

Committee members said it will provide a test case for photo tolling. Better them than us, the committee was saying as committee member Ron Jones, also of Gig Harbor, said he didn’t want the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to be the “canary in the coal mine.”

Photo tolling on the Narrows bridge is also scheduled to begin in the spring.

Christian Hill: 253-274-7390 christian.hill@thenewstribune.com

This is our future... or worse. Remember, the slime pushing this the hardest, Steve "Easy Money" Stuart, Tim "The Liar" Leavitt, those running the democratian, ain't gonna have to pay this extortion when they apply it here, nor are they going to have to address the fall out of losing their jobs, going back on welfare, or "doing without."

These scum already have jobs. So what if a few hundred businesses who depend on the commuters now non-existent disposable income have to close down, or that the county/city lose the revenue from $100,000,000 in purchases that won't happen every year since it has to go into tolls?

This is our future, people. $150 a month in tolls for the working stiffs who commute. $1800 per year out of our pockets and into the pockets of these slime ball's friends.

Sickening.
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