Port Authority Board Approves Toll Hike Plan

The Port Authority's board of commissioners approved on Friday morning.

Tolls on cars using E-ZPass will go up $1.50 next month, followed by a $.75 increase every December from 2012 to 2015. This comes down to a $4.50 increase over the next five years.

A single PATH ride—currently $1.75—will increase by $1 over the next four years, starting with a $.25 increase in September.

According to the Port Authority the plan is meant to "restore fiscal health to the agency by increasing toll and fare rates." The initial proposal called for a $6 toll hike.

Cars paying with cash will have the same increase, but will be subject to an additional $2 penalty, according to the Port Authority.

"This is just the latest assault in Governor Christie’s war against New Jersey commuters," said U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg in a statement Friday. "Make no mistake, these toll hikes are a tax on commuters that will disproportionately hurt New Jerseyans."

The Port Authority has said it needs the extra revenue to complete multiple capital projects, such as the suspender ropes on the George Washington Bridge, a modernization of the PATH system and the completion of the World Trade Center. The agency’s now $25.1 billion, 10-year capital plan will generate more than 131,000 jobs, officials say.

Locally, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Englewood) reiterated her call for Governor Chris Christie to tackle allegations of waste and taxpayer abuse at the bi-state agency. Huttle had sent a letter to Christie asking him to review the results of a New York State audit that showed the Port Authority had spent nearly half of a billion dollars in overtime costs over five years, her office said in a statement.

“This Governor has repeatedly tried to stake his reputation on being a no-nonsense type of guy that’s not afraid to tackle the problems at our independent authorities and agencies.  He has gone to great lengths to highlight the superfluous costs he has vetoed at agencies like the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission and the Delaware River Port Authority.  Yet when it comes to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, he has remained uncharacteristically silent, ultimately allowing these exorbitant cost overruns by signing off on both their minutes and budget,” the assemblywoman said in a statement.