PIRG challenges governor on monetization

by: Hank Kalet

Wed May 16, 2007 at 10:30:48 AM EDT

We need to ensure that New Jersey citizens retain control of our Turnpike and Parkway for all future planning, management and development. We need to make sure that if a deal occurs, New Jerseyans get fair value for our roads instead of our budget crisis leading New Jersey to sell at a discount. The process of making a deal must be transparent and accountable. And above all, the people of New Jersey should have the final say in the Turnpike's future safety standards. If a monetization deal can't meet these conditions, embodied in our six principles, a deal must not be done.

1. Maintain public control of the leased asset -- especially over the Turnpike and Parkway, so that citizens remain in control of transportation planning.

2. Guarantee fair value -- especially because New Jersey toll roads "are the highest grossing in the country, and are uniquely valuable to investors and the people of New Jersey."

3. Be for no longer than 30 years.

4. Guarantee "state-of-the-art maintenance and safety standards."

5. Maintain "complete transparency and accountability." The public, PIRG says, must have "input into the substance of a deal, and to be able to hold us accountable for doing a deal." It asks the governor to "make the full text of a proposed deal and any sub-agreements public" six months before it is consumated and that he promise to "hold public hearings on the proposal" or "sign any deal that the Legislature has not voted to approve in its final form."

6. Be used to address the state's structural budget problems and not to fund current year spending.

Will such a pledge prevent the problems faced in other states? Probably not, but a pledge like this can help frame the debate over monetization, ensuring that the public good is protected and that the desire to generate revenue does not become the overriding goal of any plan.

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