Corzine's toll plan hurts Brick, mayor says
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer

COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR An Ocean County resident finds a unique way to express her disapproval of Gov. Jon S. Corzine's proposed toll plan to pay down the state's debt. Corzine faced an angry crowd at Toms River High School North on Saturday.

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis doesn't think much of Gov. Jon S. Corzine's proposed toll hike plan.

"I'm focused on what's best for Brick Township," the mayor said. "This plan is not good for us as a county. It's not good for us as a town."

Acropolis was one of about 15 Ocean County elected officials who attended a cordial, private breakfast meeting with the governor in Toms River, just hours before Corzine faced a hostile crowd at Toms River High School North.

"I'm angry at the governor's toll plan and the state spending," the mayor said Monday. "No doubt about it, they are taxing our children and my grandchildren out of the state of New Jersey.

But the breakfast was respectful, unlike the public meeting, Acropolis said.

"You can disagree in a civil way," he said. "I have never been one for catcalls and yelling. But it [public meeting] shows you the level of frustration in this state."

Acropolis agrees with Corzine that New Jersey is a state in fiscal crisis.

"Absolutely," he said. "Do I think he's handling it well? Absolutely not."

The toll plan doesn't do anything to control spending, Acropolis said.

"On one hand, he says the state is in dire financial straits," he said. "On the other hand, he grants raises for judges."

A Brick resident who commutes from home and uses the Holland Tunnel to get into New York City probably spends between $1,600 to $1,800 in tolls each year, the mayor said.

"In 2018, in the tenth year, that same resident will pay $7,800," Acropolis said. "That's terrible. It's going to be a bigger burden on the low-income person. It's going to hurt the person who makes a lower amount."

Corzine's plan calls for using the value in the state's toll roads to pay down half of the state's debt and permanently fund statewide transportation improvements.

It would do that by staggered toll increases over a period of years along the state's three major toll roads and on a portion of Route 440.

The average trip on the New Jersey turnpike currently costs $1.21. Under the proposed schedule, the same trip would cost $2.05 in 2010, $3.46 cents in 2014, $5.84 in 2018, $9.86 in 2022 and would be $12.50 in 25 years, according to data provided by the governor's office.

ButAcropolis says there are other ways to fix the state's fiscal problems, including funding school costs at the state level, he said.

"There are somany different things you could do that they are not doing," he said. "Anybody could come in and raise tolls."

That could be done by hiking taxes on gas, income tax and the state sales tax, he said.

"You have to do it so that it's fair to everyone," Acropolis said. "Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties would bear the brunt of it because we have the highest number of E-ZPass people. It's not fair. If you are going to straighten out the state's budget crisis, you really want to do it fairly."

The toll hikes will also hurt tourism in Ocean County, the mayor said.

"If somebody else has a way to do it, please let me know. He's the governor. Everybody had great faith in his Goldman Sachs background, and it hasn't worked out. Any kind of a toll increase is going to hurt."

The problem transcends and cannot be attributed to just one political party,Acropolis said.

"This is not about Republicans and Democrats," he said. "The governor made that point, and people agree with it. Both sides of the aisle deserve blame."