PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: July 10, 2012 Contact: (518) 458-9696

Toll Hike Leaves New York Anything but Open for Business
Twenty business groups have joined together to oppose the New York State Thruway Authoritys proposed 45% toll increase on commercial vehicles. The groups represent over 13,000 companies of all sizes, ranging from farms and grocery stores, to fuel suppliers, lumber mills and manufacturers, who expect to see a significant negative impact on their business as a result of the proposed toll increase. This toll increase is expected to have a drastic impact on agriculture and the food supply. Many farmers will be paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars more per year just to get their food to market if these toll hikes are approved, said Dean Norton, New York Farm Bureau President. Hard working farm families cannot easily absorb those rising transportation costs, and neither can New York families who will see their grocery bills rise because of it. The Thruway Authority appears to have no regard for the impact their actions will have on all consumers who rely on the goods delivered by truck, said Brian Sampson, Executive Director of Unshackle Upstate. Every time a truck toll is raised, it increases the cost to the consumer. Everything you use, consume or touch will cost more. This does not just hurt the trucking industry. It hurts every manufacturing business and every farmer. As a result, this new increased tax will be absorbed by every taxpayer in New York." Nearly 90% of New Yorks communities rely exclusively on trucks to deliver their goods. Transportation costs factor into the price of any commodity. Trucks are used in nearly every part of the manufacturing process, said Randy Wolken, President of MACNY- The Manufacturers Association and The Manufacturers Alliance of New York . Raw materials are transported by truck, so the cost of manufacturing will increase as the tolls on trucks increase. Consumers wont just see their shipping and handling charges increase, theyll see the cost of every product increase. The Thruway Authority has proposed a 45% toll increase on commercial vehicles with 3 axles or more, to support their 2012-15 capitol plan, which does not include the planned $5 billion replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge, spanning the Hudson River between Rockland and Westchester counties. The Thruway Authority was unable to complete the projects in their budget with the revenue from toll hikes for their 2005-2011 capital program, leaving many concerned about the mismanagement of toll revenue. The Thruway Authoritys questionable financial decisions are well-documented. In 2008, the New York State Comptroller found the authoritys planned (and subsequently implemented) toll increases were not justified and that the authority needed to undertake a
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review to control spending and find alternative revenue options. Additionally, it found that the authoritys capital planning process allowed practices that did not sufficiently consider the need for accountability and transparency. The Thruway Authority raised the toll regardless and took no action on the comptrollers recommendations. The Thruway Authority has mismanaged their finances for years and to make up for it, theyre asking average consumers to foot the bill through increased transportation costs, said Kendra Adams, President of the New York State Motor Truck Association. They are showing total disregard for what it will do to consumers, how it will impact communities along alternate routes and what it will do the economy of New York. And make no mistake, every New Yorker will foot the bill. There is not an industry in this state that does not rely heavily on trucks to keep their business running dayto-day, said Mike Durant, State Director of the New York Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business. At a time when New York is supposed to be open for business, this truck toll increase practically invites businesses to leave New York. Export markets have kept the forest products industry alive in recent years, said Eric Carlson, President and CEO of the Empire State Forest Products Association. With high fuel costs, this toll increase is the proverbial straw that will break the back of the industry in New York State, sending our jobs to other states. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has declared New York open for business, while discussing the use of the Port Authority of New York and New Jerseys toll increases to fund the building of the Ground Zero site in Manhattan stated, The taxpayer, the toll payer, is not an endless, bottomless well for government to dip into to cure their incompetence. The organizations that plan to go to Gov. Cuomo, legislators and the Thruway Authority with the concerns of their members, include: American Trucking Associations Council of Industry Empire State Forest Products Association Empire State Petroleum Association Empire State Towing and Recovery Association Food Industry Alliance of New York Manufacturers Alliance of New York Manufacturers Association National Federation of Independent Business National Private Truck Council New York Association of Convenience Stores New York Farm Bureau New York State Motor Truck Association New York State Movers and Warehouseman's Association Northeast Ag & Feed Alliance Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc. Northeastern Retail Lumber Association Retail Council of New York State Rochester Transportation Council Unshackle Upstate ###