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Good morning Senator Parker and committee members. Thank you for convening this hearing and providing an opportunity to address you. My name is Terry Pastika and I am the Executive Director and a Community Lawyer with the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst, Illinois. The Center is a non-profit, non-partisan legal organization dedicated to building democracy in the western suburbs by strengthening the citizenry's capacities, resources and institutions for self-governance.

 

I am testifying on behalf of the Tollway Accountability Campaign, or TAC. TAC is a coalition of twenty-five regional and statewide civic, community and environmental groups that have joined together to seek increased fiscal accountability and legislative oversight of the Toll Highway Authority. We are here to address the 87% proposed toll increase put forth by Toll Authority.

 

The Citizen Advocacy Center has followed the history of fiscal mismanagement of the Toll Authority and published our findings through the beginning of 1999 in Tollgate I and Tollgate II. A brief highlight of past financial indiscretions indicates an agency ripe for reform:

• A lavish $25.5 million new headquarters with $4.5 million in fixtures and 30 board room chairs valued at $1,700 each;
• The conviction of a former executive director on charges of conspiracy, theft, and official misconduct based on the misuse of $240,000 in tollway funds in connection with a land deal;
• The theft of $182,000 from the counting room at the Toll Authority;
• Despite knowledge for the last 40 years that the original tollroads would have to be rebuilt, no implementation of financial management plans.

The current Toll Authority representatives assert that these are indiscretions of the past and many of the problems have been addressed. Despite verbal assurances, no guarantees exist to bind the Toll Authority from unaccountable practices. The integrity of the Toll Authority needs to come from protections built into the system rather than based on directors who come and go.

 

After years of questionable financial practices, the Toll Authority is in a self-proclaimed financial crisis. The proposed solution is a toll increase to fund a $5.5 billion system-wide reconstruction and widening project that is part of a 15 year Capitol Plan. Although this would be one of the largest public works projects in the history of Illinois, the proposed need for $5.5 billion is put forth without any stated basis, studies, reports, options, or alternatives to the reconstruction and widening projects. Most of the $5.5 billion is allocated to road widening in order to solve congestion problems, a solution that supposes not be a single additional car in 15 years will drive on the tollroads where extra lanes are built. We know from our history in this region that when more lanes are built, more cars appear. It is beyond reason to think that the Toll Authority can come forward and state that they need $5.5 billion, trust them to determine the need for it, how to spend it and the precise work program that will be used after a long history of fiscal mismanagement.

 

The manner in which the Toll Authority has proposed the toll increase is another indicator for the need for accountability. By statute, the Toll Authority is required to hold public hearings in all counties that the toll roads serve. The public hearing is supposed to be an opportunity for decision makers to hear input from the public, and for the public to hear proposed actions, considered alternatives and policy justifications for the actions under consideration. The Capitol Plan is one of the largest public works projects in the history of Illinois and the Toll Authority chose to conduct all twelve public hearings on the same evening and at time, April 17, 2002 between 7-9 PM. There has been no indication that any directors will in-fact attend any of the pubic hearings, only that senior staffers will attend. By conducting the public hearings simultaneously and by not committing to directors being present at the hearings, the public does not have an adequate opportunity to have a dialogue with the individuals who are responsible for the toll hike - the directors.

 

Considering the significant size of the public works project, the dire financial status of the Toll Authority and the inadequacy of the public hearings, serious questions linger regarding the toll increase and the Capitol Plan proposed:

• What is the basis for the estimated costs for all the projects proposed under the Capitol Plan, what studies were conducted and by whom?
• The proposed Capitol Plan is a 15 year project but only pays for the next eight years, what is the exact cost for the full 15 years and how much will tolls have to be increased overall to pay?
• Given the enormous scope of the Capitol Plan, how does the public know that the Toll Authority has the capacity to manage the project?

Toll Authority representatives have alluded that the proposed toll increase would only be used to fund the reconstruction and widening of the existing system. With the current toll roads on the brink of crumbling, considerations of any plans to build new tollroads is outrageous. Motorists deserve a detailed account and schedule of budgetary expenditures and the Toll Authority should commit to a moratorium on new tollway construction until all reconstruction and repairs have been completed.

 

The only way motorists can be assured that any expenditures of the toll authority will not be recklessly spent is through General Assembly oversight of the Toll Authority budget with major capital expenditures, bond issuance, or toll increases subject to legislative review. Riders of the Illinois tollways deserve assured accountability from an agency that, despite numerous years of revenue surplus, has carelessly failed to plan for basic and obvious future costs.

 

Thank you for your time.