Your Government ... My View 7/3/08

By: Ernie Padgett
Florida Legislature passed a law last year that allows officials with the Department of Transportation to negotiate the leasing of state roads and bridges to private companies. Florida’s first step into the controversial realm of road leasing may happen by the end of this year. State officials are preparing to lease Alligator Alley, a four-lane toll road that connects Naples with Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Other lease projects that may follow are the Sunshine Skyway bridge across Tampa Bay and the Sunshine Expressway. Florida would give a private company a long-term lease for a road or bridge for 50 to 75 years and the company pays the state a sum of money up front. The private company will make its money back by increasing tolls. The state’s first road leasing plan, which is supported by Governor Charlie Crist, has plenty of critics. They worry about turning over state facilities to private companies and the impact of rising toll rates on Florida drivers. My concern and strong objection to this new approach is simple. The road or bridge is a public asset that was paid for by the people of Florida. The state would lease to a private company that would then adjust the tolls in order to make a profit. Somehow, that just doesn’t seem quite right. Currently, eight investment groups, all with foreign partners have expressed an interest on leasing Alligator Alley. They include companies from Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Australia. As Americans, we should all be very concerned and opposed to foreign companies buying up our interstate highway system and other infrastructure. Why is the state of Florida on this path of leasing our roadways. Its all about the quick dollar. Our elected officials say we have a backlog of road projects that are needed but no money to do them. When we lease a road, we get a bundle of money up front. This money could be also used for non transportation projects if the state elects to do so. Dave Rothfuss, a good friend of mine who happened to be my assistant county administrator in Manatee County for 12 years, emailed me recently with his thoughts on this subject. He stated, "There is no reason to privatize Alligator Alley or any other state road or bridge except to get dollars up front which could be used for other purposes besides transportation needs-e.g. pet legislative programs, or balancing the state budget for a few years. They could use this approach rather than thoroughly and professionally evaluating and controlling state spending and revenues. Based on the poor track record of the legislature and this governor, privatization would enable them to evade their responsibilities to the citizens of this great state for a few years and pass the added burden on to future office holders. These leasing actions are in essence making the people who paid for these facilities pay even more to use them. In my opinion, this is bad policy, worse politics, but business as usual in Tallahassee." The fact is, within the last several years the Florida legislature has taken monies from the Transportation Trust Fund and used them to shore up other areas of the state budget. Their track record is, promises made promises broken. If you are opposed to Florida leasing your roads and bridges to foreign investors, I urge you to call or email Governor Crist and your representative and senator and ask them to change their position on this issue.