CHICAGO — A taxpayers organization on Thursday filed a lawsuit challenging the steep rate hike recently approved by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to fund a new $12 billion capital program.
The Taxpayers United of America filed the complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against the authority, its board chairwoman Paula Wolff, and the Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp.
It asks the court to halt the increase and argues that the ISTHA has violated state law for not converting tollways back to freeways as it contends was the intention of the laws that established the authority in 1953.
“The slogan of the authority was 'Toll Free in ’73,’ ” said Jim Tobin, tax the group’s president. “That was when the toll roads were to be paid off and converted to freeways. Instead, the tollway keeps expanding, building more toll roads and hiking tolls, ensuring that it will live forever. This is contrary to the legislative intent of its creators.”
“We haven’t seen the complaint, so it would be premature for us to comment, but we are confident that we followed the process as required under state laws,” authority spokeswoman Wendy Abrams said.
The tollway board last month approved a $12 billion, 15-year capital program that relies on a steep increase in passenger tolls to repay $4.8 billion in borrowing and raise cash to maintain and expand its existing 286-mile system. The ISTHA unveiled the plan in July, saying it was needed to relieve congestion in the Chicago area, create jobs and spur economic growth. Officials said the projects would eventually create at least 120,000 jobs and generate $21 billion in economic activity.
Facing an end-of-the-year legislative deadline, the agency worked over the last year and a half to craft an encore to its $6.1 billion program launched seven years ago that relied on $3.6 billion of bonding. The tollway wrapped up debt for that program in 2009, and nearly 85% of projects are complete. The congestion-relief capital plan that introduced electronic tolling to Illinois relied on an increase in tolls paid by cash users and commercial drivers.
The newly adopted plan funds construction of new toll roads and projects aimed at keeping the 52-year-old system’s existing roadways in a state of good repair through 2026. The hike is projected to generate an additional $250 million next year. The average toll plaza rate would rise to 75 cents from 40 cents for passenger vehicles, with the cost of the average car trip on the system rising to $1.18 from 63 cents.
Moody’s Investors Service, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s rate the tollway’s $4 billion of outstanding debt double-A minus.
