The Collin County Observer

Is it a surprise that NTTA, saddled with huge multi-billion dollar debts after purchasing the concession for SH 121 needs to raise money?

Could it be that NTTA would want to raise funds by imposing large, onerous, and seemingly arbitrary fines and fees on Texas drivers? Could these large fees (up to $25 for every toll gantry passed) create a voter backlash?

Now some board members at NTTA are coming to their senses and realizing that by 'sticking it' to local drivers, they are sowing the wind. They are not afraid of the local citizens - after all the NTTA Board of Directors is not elected, but they are afraid of the Texas Legislature.

Could it be that enough pissed off voters might persuade their legislators to serve up a whirlwind of regulations, a whirlwind sown by the excesses of NTTA?

Michael Lindenberger writes in yesterday's Transportation Blog at the Dallas Morning News:

"Turns out, it's not just the drivers I've been hearing from who think the charges NTTA imposes for unpaid [tolls] are ridiculous. So do at least some of the board members who run NTTA.

This morning at a finance committee hearing, vice chairman Victor Vandergriff said flatly the exorbitant fines simply can't be continued.

'I don't see how these fees can survive at this level. I don't see how they can survive,' he told staff members who were presenting an overview of the system for fines imposed on missed payments. NTTA's approach, Vandergriff said, needs to be 'simple and consistent and not outrageous. Speaking from my own business perspective, we (in the auto sales industry) get slammed for excessive fees, so do the banks. I just don't see how this can survive.'

Committee chairman Gary Base [a Collin County appointee] said, 'Do we really need to charge these amazing fees? Is that how we are paying our bills?'

In a word, yes. NTTA staff members replied that its budget for 2010 assumes some $26 million in 'other revenue,' -- the lion's share of which comes from fees such as those imposed on late toll payers.

Finding a kinder, gentler way of collecting unpaid tolls is all well and good, some staff members suggested, but the board will need to think about how to replace those funds. Most of NTTA's revenue goes to debt payments. In the first half of this year, the agency has spent about $29.7 on operating expenses, and another $9.2 million on administrative costs.

Finding $20 million or more in fees would be difficult. On the other hand, executive director Allen Clemson said if NTTA doesn't do a better job with an easier to understand system of fines, lawmakers may step in and fix the problems themselves. 'We feel if we don't do a better job explaining things, then our partners in Austin may well intervene and explain it for us,' he said."

In an article written on July 1, Lindenberger explained the arithmetic of the NTTA's fees:

"How do you turn an $80 bill into a $2,000 monkey on your back?

Spend two weeks using the North Texas Tollway Authority's growing network of toll roads, then ignore your bills for as little as 45 days, and you're likely to find out.

As it prepares to raise toll rates next month, NTTA has increased its efforts to collect the money it is owed by drivers who use its roads without a toll tag, and then refuse to pay or simply ignore bills sent to their homes.
To encourage them to pay up, the agency tacks on a $25 fee for every toll transaction that isn't paid after 45 days and two notices. With a typical one-way trip on a toll road involving several toll transactions, those fines can quickly turn two weeks of toll use into a four-figure affair."

The 'fees' are civil penalties, but failure to pay them is a criminal offense, as over twelve thousand local drivers have found out after Collin County JP courts issued warrants for their arrest.

Let the whirlwind begin.

Bill