Nathan Deal: Ga. 400 tolls to come down by end of 2013
More later, but here’s the press release just issued – there’s no mention of it, but clearly the timing is intended to help the July 31 vote on the transportation sales tax:
Fulfilling his promise to commuters, Gov. Nathan Deal today announced that he will have the state pay off its bond debt on Dec. 1, 2013, and move rapidly after that to remove the Ga. 400 toll by the end of that year. This will stop collection four years earlier than previously planned.
“Ga. 400 commuters have paid more than their fair share already, and this is the earliest we can bring it down without paying a penalty for early repayment of the bonds,” Deal said. “When the Ga. 400 toll went up, the state of Georgia promised commuters that it wasn’t forever. If we don’t keep that promise, we lose the faith of the people. We face many challenges when it comes to paying for new capacity, particularly in the Atlanta region. There are no easy answers, no secret pots of money, but it is imperative that governments build the trust of their people. As your governor, I will keep the promises I make to you.”
The Ga. 400 toll was originally scheduled to come down after 20 years, ending in 2011. In 2010 – after then-candidate Deal promised to end the toll the following year – the state issued new bonds tied to the toll revenue in order to pay for needed improvements in the Ga. 400 corridor, including a new connector to I-85. The $40 million in new bonds were issued Dec. 1, 2010, and they mature June 1, 2017. But at the three-year mark the state can repay the bonds without a penalty. Further, the state needs time to plan for physically bringing down the gates and the dramatic restructuring that will be needed in the toll area.
“As I have said many times before: I inherited a situation where we could not bring down the gates immediately, and we face a situation where we would have to pay a penalty for early repayment,” Deal said. “This timeline gives commuters a finish line, while still allowing us to meet our obligations. Moving forward, we’ll need to continue to work on long-term solutions to congestion in the 400 corridor. And I look forward to doing that in a transparent fashion that commuters can trust.”
The governor’s proposal requires approval of the State Road and Tollway Authority.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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412 comments Add your comment
Vote No
July 19th, 2012
11:40 am
Vote yes, still waiting on that 9% sales tax answer.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:40 am
@NOTSO FAST. What don’t you trust? Everything is spelled out in HB 277. The law you are voting on. There is plenty of oversight and methods in place to make sure our money is not wasted.
5150 UOAD
July 19th, 2012
11:41 am
I still say the issue is not the interstates, it is the secondary roads. If traffic can not exit and go anywhere, it is going to back up!!!………………That is from today’s VENT.
The TRUTH is Highways are not the problem at all. Builders had studies done and founf DEAD END streets have less crime. the Planning boards and home builders made subdivisions that go NO WHERE. you drive down Johnson ferry and all the subdivisions have one entrance and exit that all come out back on Johnson Ferry. IF we planned well years ago this wouldn’t be a problem now. Take some of the foreclosed houses, tear them down and make roads that connect Subdivisions. Funneling all the traffic off BIG highways onto streets that go some where gets people home. THE PROBLEM ISN’T the INTERSTATES but the Surface Streets that we have to funnel down to all go to dead end roads.
Great news Mr. Galloway
July 19th, 2012
11:41 am
This is amazing! I was just mentioning to a friend that I was voting against T-SPLOST, and the state can thank the politicians that didn’t end the GA 400 toll when it was supposed to be ended.
Who knows how they would squander the T-SPLOST if approved. Would taxpayers really get the bang for their buck. And when politicians say the T-SPLOST will end in 10 years, will it? It didn’t end GA 400 tolls on time.
Too late to change my mind….I early voted.
julia
July 19th, 2012
11:41 am
@Georgian, I love you
smarty
July 19th, 2012
11:42 am
the bonds were already paid off and this the FIRST time EVER mention of this so-called pre-payment penalty. Never ever heard of that for bonds…
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:42 am
@Vote No. They will save more than that in time not wasted in traffic, depending on what company it is. Cities are more attractive to companies when they know the citizens care about the future and will not let it go the way of Cleveland and Detroit.
H
July 19th, 2012
11:42 am
I don’t understand what the big deal is over a 50 cent toll. Every major city has some sort of toll road, toll bridge etc and to pay only 50 cents is a joke. They shouldn’t take down the toll, they should actually increase it to help pay for other things…like maybe a Marta extension to Windward Parkway or something. People complaining about a 50 cent toll is a joke. Try taking the Holland Tunnell in NYC one way…its 12 bucks. Heaven forbid if Interstate 85 became the Georgia Turnpike and starting charging 10 bucks from SC to AL. Some people have no idea how easy it is here.
julia
July 19th, 2012
11:43 am
Vote yes.. you voted for obama and believe his bs too right?
Rafe Hollister
July 19th, 2012
11:43 am
What a joke! Deception, lies, corruption, and politicians are so intertwined, it has become a joke. Since they lied about the 400 toll, and Obama assumed the role of Caesar deciding which laws to enforce and which to ignore, mistrust of gov is at an all time high.
If you trust politicians, then by all means vote yes, on TSplost.
Voted NO!
July 19th, 2012
11:43 am
Please “vote yes” tell us all what happens to the current gas tax that we pay. Where exactly is it going? When you are SC and TN the gas is much cheaper. We must be paying a larger percentage of tax then either of these two states.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:45 am
@ Great news Mr. Galloway.
48-8-241.
(a) There are created within this state 12 special districts. The geographical boundary of each special district shall correspond with and shall be coterminous with the geographical boundary of the applicable region of the 12 regional commissions provided for in subsection (f) of Code Section 50-8-4.
(b) When the imposition of a special district sales and use tax is authorized according to the procedures provided in this article within a special district, subject to the requirement of referendum approval and the other requirements of this article, a special sales and use tax shall be imposed within the special district for a period of ten years which tax shall be known as the special district transportation sales and use tax.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:45 am
@ julia. I did not.
The Mic
July 19th, 2012
11:46 am
NO TO NEW TAXES, and No the the DOT transportation tax referendum. Concerning 400, that project was paid off a couple you years ago and, if you will recall the governors office decided to continue charging a toll, which countered the original promise. We couldn’t trust the governors office and GDOT, with Georgia 400, “THEY LIED”, so why trust them with a new transportation tax. SAY NO TO THE GDOT TRANSPORTATION TAX”, no new taxes and NO DEAL!
Rock Gaines
July 19th, 2012
11:46 am
By the way, I don’t care that what the Governor is doing is to sway voters. In fact, I expect him to do just that – he’s a politician. However, voting no is a vote against progress. This is the closest we’ve come to actually doing something about transportation in Metro Atlanta. This is NOT a neighborhood issue, it’s a REGIONAL issue. It’s bigger than “what’s in it for me”.
Do not depend on your friends, the blogs, or any other word of mouth for your info. Read HB 277 for yourselves and make an informed decision.
LOL YEAH RIGHT
July 19th, 2012
11:46 am
@VOTE YES!!! You’re so adiment about TSPLOST ending in 10 years because “its the LAW”, but what you’re not picking up on is that the same government who lied about the 400 Toll is trying to impliment TSLOST. Just because it is supposed to end in ten years doesn’t mean it will. The people are saying that in 9 years there will be another vote about it make a very good point, not to mention the goverment is so fake and lies about EVERYTHING, AND they have the ability to change the so called LAWS you’re talking about.
You’re entitled to your own opinion, but please, put more thought into this and make the “right descision”.
Sincerly, someone who is voting NO.
Rafe Hollister
July 19th, 2012
11:47 am
H
You said yourself, that we have it “good here”. Now, you want to make “here”, just like the place you fled.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:47 am
@Voted NO!. The gas is cheaper in SC and TN because they don’t have local taxes on their gas, I believe. Guess what though, the local governments have hardly any money for maintenance or upgrades. All state taxes go the state level and are given out as they see fit. Federal taxes are taken to the federal level and given out as seen fit. Not necessarily going back fairly to the states that they were taken from.
LOL YEAH RIGHT
July 19th, 2012
11:48 am
@Julia…Vote yess probably didn’t even vote at all
Is it true Jim?
July 19th, 2012
11:48 am
Has anyone looked where and how T-SPLOST money will actually be spent?
Mr. Galloway, what is this I hear money will be allocated toward a new control tower and other upgrades at McCollum airport? If true, this underhanded allocation of funds is a travesty and has nothing to do with helping Metro commuters and the roads.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:48 am
@LOL YEAH RIGHT. Why don’t you understand that it CAN NOT extend past 10 years without another vote by the citizens??? It’s not that complicated. 400 tolls were not bound by a referendum.
Bill Simon
July 19th, 2012
11:49 am
@VOTE YES: The 400 tolls were to come down BY LAW TOO!!!! Here is the excerpt from the press release just two days ago to urge Deal to being down the tolls:
“Copies of the original 1989 Atlanta City Ordinance and Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) agreement were displayed today to show the original stipulations. According to those agreements:
· The toll was required to be removed upon repayment of construction bonds for the Georgia 400 extension and the Buckhead loop and,
· Toll revenue was only allowed to be spent for those projects, both of which are inside the I-285 perimeter.”
AND, yet…laws can ALWAYS be changed…and, in this state, they always are.
Vote NO to T-SPLOST…Do not trust ANY politician with your money, and do not trust anything they promise (unless you just fell off a turnip truck…)
Tychus Findlay
July 19th, 2012
11:50 am
That’s fine. When the tolls come down, we’ll consider passing T-SPLOST. Not before.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:51 am
@ Is it true Jim?. 11 of 12 regions have aviation projects on their lists. It’s not a isolated incident in this region. This is a TRANSPORTATION referendum and aviation is transportation.
Vote No
July 19th, 2012
11:51 am
Vote yes: Okay Ms. employee, We are going to move to Atlanta. What? Well, they do have the highest water utility rates in the country and some of the highest property taxes and you know they have a 9% sales tax but you will be able to commute 40 miles with no traffic. How about it?
julia
July 19th, 2012
11:51 am
@LOL YEAH RIGHT all you can do is laugh at her now…
LOL YEAH RIGHT
July 19th, 2012
11:52 am
@Bill Simon THANK YOU!!!
beep beep
July 19th, 2012
11:52 am
watch the bean jump when the worm moves… voters are tired of bumping up the road budget when the self-serving boards build costlier traffic jams and then charge everyone to drive on what they already paid to fix and just got ripped off again.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:52 am
@ Bill Simon. Please let me know what piece of legislation required the 400 toll to end. You won’t find one.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:52 am
@ Bill Simon. If that was the case there would have been lawsuits left and right.
Pete E. Tong
July 19th, 2012
11:54 am
Voting no just to spite VOTE YES!!!
Oh, and because I’m capable of rational thought.
ed
July 19th, 2012
11:55 am
I’ll believe in the good tooth fairy before I’ll believe a politician who makes such a promise in an attempt to beguile us into voting for T-SPLOST. I voted against it because it’s little more than a slush fund to benefit the usual cast of engineers and contractors. Bring down the toll booths, then bring up T-SPLOST again, if you dare.
5150 UOAD
July 19th, 2012
11:55 am
On another NOTE….I want to see PROOF all the Hispanic/Latino city employees for Sandy Springs are LEGAL CITIZENS. Look at the People working for Sandy Springs and I will bet 80% are not LEGAL US citizens that are getting paid by Tax Payers and have Government benefits.
JIM GALLOWAY……………do a piece on the Legal Status of the City of Sandy Springs Employees.
Hey
July 19th, 2012
11:55 am
Early Voted NO…..if it were Chicago I would vote NO early and OFTEN.
VOTE YES!!!
July 19th, 2012
11:56 am
It is sad that you all would vote no and sacrifice the future of our region because you don’t understand how different the 400 tolls are from this TSPLOST. Sad.
Remember, if you vote before reading the law you are voting on you are no different than Pelosi with Obamacare. An irresponsible citizen.
Austin
July 19th, 2012
11:56 am
Why can’t they stop taking the toll today and the just pay off the bonds on time with the original money from the bond sales and use what they’ve collected already for the interest? It seems like they still aren’t being straight with us by saying they are waiting because they don’t want to pre-pay the bonds. They shouldn’t have sold the bonds in the first place, so fixing a problem they caused in the first place doesn’t make them heroes in my book.
MH
July 19th, 2012
11:58 am
Vote Yes are you telling me that the law makers can’t change the law? Really!!!
Rip Torn
July 19th, 2012
11:59 am
VOTE YES! – The fact that marta gets more money is plenty enough reason to vote no. Marta is so full of waste fraud and abuse it would be funny… if they weren’t asking for even more taxpayer money. Two perfect examples for you – 1. I have a friend from highschool that with no college degree makes over $60k a year to walk around and check to see if the little needle on a fire extinguisher is in the green… and thats base salary… before benefits. 2. My dad used to be good friends with an unmaed higher up at Marta that told him how several years ago marta made a deal to order a stockpile of spare wheels for their trains so that when one needed replacing they had spares. Well guess what, they ended up ordering tons of the wrong size wheel so every time one needed replacing they had to send it to a machine shop to be custom fabricated… not too cheap.
Nope, Marta and the DOT need to prove they can be good stewards of the citizen’s money before we go giving them even more.
?
July 19th, 2012
11:59 am
Explain how an upgraded control tower at McCollum Field will help out majority of Metro DRIVERS?
T-SPLOST is already wasting it’s funds.
Bryan
July 19th, 2012
11:59 am
Either we use the TSPLOST to enlarge the tax base and bring in revenue from tourists/business travelers, or we’ll have more toll roads and terrible ideas like the I-85 Peach Pass lanes where only us residents are charged. Your choice Atlanta…
julia
July 19th, 2012
12:00 pm
Vote Yes.. I have Read it and I read ovomit care… Im voting on NEITHER?!!
Church of the painful Truth
July 19th, 2012
12:00 pm
I was leaning to vote yes,but the political actions of Deal about 400 changed my mind !!! His actions only shows they will promise and say anything to get elected or a vote.Where is honesty and character in our leaders today?????Also remember that his proposal to take down the toll on 400 still requires the approval of State Road and Toll Authority. HUM———???? things could change again by December!! By the way;I have some swamp land in South Georgia for sale .
MiltonMan
July 19th, 2012
12:00 pm
Big deal! I am still stuck paying a penny tax for that crappy MARTA.
Bill Simon
July 19th, 2012
12:01 pm
@VOTE YES: I’m sorry…there’s some wax in my ears that I had to clean out…did you just say there would be “lawsuits if the law was changed” after it was written?
Boy/Girl…you DID just fall off a turnip truck!!!
Vote No
July 19th, 2012
12:03 pm
Vote yes: Mr. Employer, Before we up and move to GA.
Do you know the state will charge a tax on each employee at the end of the year because GA owes the Federal goverment hundreds of millions of dollars that GA borrowed for unemployment payments? Employer: Huh?
YeahRight
July 19th, 2012
12:03 pm
No matter what the governor does – the NO folks will vote against this. The reason is simple:That’s what Boortz and the TEA folks told them to do. That way they don’t have to think!
wildbill
July 19th, 2012
12:03 pm
Is it true that the GA Dept of Transportation “lost” a billion dollars? The money just disappeared somehow? Good Grief!
buchwald
July 19th, 2012
12:04 pm
H
It’s not the amount of the toll we’re concerned with, it’s the lack of trust with elected officials
Bill Simon
July 19th, 2012
12:04 pm
@Bryan: WHO wants to come to Georgia? People like to drive through Georgia on their way down to Florida, but they have no interest in stopping here and touring such attractions as “Corrupt Georgia Politicians…Then and Now”
j
July 19th, 2012
12:04 pm
Vote Yes, i vote yes for you to leave the comments section. You’re annoying and trying to shove your opinions down other people’s throats. You’re almost like a politician yourself, trying to lobby for support. Each person on here has their own opinion and you’re not going to change their opinion, including mine. the more you try to force feed, the more people are going to go in the opposite direction.