Someone finally noticed.
The New York State Thruway Authority may have gone to the toll increase well one too many times. Or at least, it went back to the well too soon.
On Sunday, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli slapped the authority’s wrist when issuing a promised audit.
“The Thruway Authority should call off its toll hike and postpone any future hikes until it completes any analysis of its operations,” DiNapoli said.
The folks who run Interstate 90, 190 and the Grand Island Bridges in our area have been boosting tolls as of late and have another increase scheduled. The man in charge of watching the state’s money now says the authority should watch its operations more closely before digging deeper into the pockets of the motorists who use the Thruway system.
By actually daring to suggest that the Thruway Authority tighten up its operations and look at itself before looking at our wallets to bail it out, DiNapoli touched on one of the many ways that the family of New York is a dysfunctional family.
The New York Thruway Authority might be one of the biggest and most visible public authorities we have, but it is by no means the only one. At last count, there were more than 700 such quasi-independent bodies across the state. They run roads, ports, transportation systems and all sorts of public benefit operations.
In establishing these authorities, state officials reasoned that these kinds of functions could be run separate from state government and could borrow money without affected the state’s credit. The fact that they could also hide political deadwood in high-paying, low-visibility patronage jobs certainly never, ever crossed their minds.
So state authorities multiplied like so many bureaucratic rabbits across the Empire State. The problem is, when you establish independent authorities, over time they tend to act, well, independently. And because they really don’t directly answer to anyone in state government or to the public, it’s easy for them to run amok. The only oversight the public really has over these public authorities is the power of public opinion.
That is the kind of pressure the Thruway Authority is beginning to feel.
For example, local lawmakers like state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, and Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte expressed hope the audits would stop the planned toll hikes.
“Any toll increase is unconscionable,” Maziarz said.
But is the court of public opinion enough to stop the authority’s toll-boosting ways?
In its response, the Thruway Authority says recommendations in the audit do not come close to bridging a money gap that would be taken care of by a toll hike. It talked about public hearings scheduled for this spring. And it reminded everyone who would listen that we probably wouldn’t be in this mess if the authority, in a 1990s razzle-dazzle financial maneuver, had not been given responsibility for maintaining the state’s canal system and the millions in annual expenses connected with it.
In a year when money is supposedly tight, it might be difficult for state lawmakers to take back the canals. Publicly forgoing any possibility of a pay raise might show that they do have the public’s best interest at heart, but that’s probably too much to ask.
So now it looks like we’re stuck with the Thruway Authority and a canal system that no one wants to pay for. Will public opinion and pressure from the state comptroller be enough to fend off the next toll increase?
We’re about to find out.
Dick Lucinski is the managing editor of the Niagara Gazette. His columns appear on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Columns
Related Photos
LUCINSKI: Public pressure over Thruway tolls
- Columns
-
-
HAMILTON: BOE and kids, or the SPCA dogs?
There is example after example of otherwise qualified Niagara Falls’ board of education members and staffers lending their time and efforts to organizations outside of the school district’s core business.
-
GLYNN: Trust in SPCA shelter must be restored
Stories about the operations at the Niagara SPCA shelter shape the image of sickening and disgusting treatment of animals.
-
BRADBERRY: Old medicine and new challenges
Having suffered and recovered from my fair share of illnesses and injuries over the years, I have come to believe that sometimes the treatment and the cure of my condition can seem to be far worse than whatever I may think is ailing me at the moment.
-
CONFER: Federal spending derailed by Amtrak
We’ve been inundated with news reports about the fiscal woes of the U.S. Postal Service. Why is it that we never hear anything about another federal enterprise facing ongoing losses -- Amtrak?
-
CITY BEAT: Worthwhile change is never easy
When I was a much younger and thinner reporter, I got a call one day from a particularly irate gentleman who asked me “if my newspaper knew what it was doing?”
-
HIGGS: Family stories and a slow start to the 1800 block
I heard from a couple of my readers who added a few tidbits that I did not know about their families.
-
GLYNN: Cuomo launches drive for better teachers
Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears determined to address the outrageous conditions that have surfaced in schools across the state because incompetent teachers are protected by their unions.
-
PFEIFFER: Beilein still serving area through scholarship
Longtime Niagara County Sheriff Tom Beilein may have moved on to keeping watch over the state’s corrections institutions, but his love of our region remains. Nothing proves that better than the announcement this week of the third annual Thomas A Beilein Scholarship for high school seniors here.
-
HAMILTON: Garabedian and the art of vocational education
I think that former Trott school teacher and vocational education specialist Art Garabedian has it right, vocational education is good for Niagara’s economy.
During State of the Union Address, President Obama challenged the nation’s manufacturers to ask themselves what they could do to bring those manufacturing jobs back to America. -
GLYNN: Mayor excited about Obama tourism initiative
President Obama takes a lot of heat, especially in an election year, but in one area even his most vocal critics must agree he is right on the money.
- More Columns Headlines
-
Killer of Fla. Girl Found in Landfill Gets Life
Army Orders Bradley Manning Court-martial
Cancer Charity Revives Breast-screening Grants
Heavy Snowstorm Hits Colorado On Its Way East
2nd Teacher From LA School Arrested on Sex Claim
Prosecutors Close Armstrong Inquiry, No Charges
Sights and Sounds: Football Fans Pour Into Indy
Unemployment Rate Down to 8.3%
Obama: Still Far Too Many Americans Need Jobs
GOP: Jobs Numbers Welcome, Can Do Better
Fla. Man Adopts Girlfriend in Legal Battle
More Deaths As Egypt Clashes Continue
Raw Video: Prince William in Falklands
Egpyt Protesters Blame Police for Soccer Deaths
'Lucky' 9-Year-Old Receives 6-Organ Transplant
Raw Video: Michelle Vs. Ellen in Pushup Contest
First Person: Will Peyton Manning Stay in Indy?
Egypt Shaken After Deadly Soccer Riot
New Suits, New Starts for New York's Unemployed
Hall of Famer Dorsett Speaks Out on NFL Injuries
