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The Toll Roads Boondoggle

A summary of the toll roads problems in Central Texas Political Advertisement paid for by Lillian Simmons. The Toll Roads Boondoggle.

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The Toll Roads Boondoggle

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  1. A summary of the toll roads problems in Central Texas Political Advertisement paid for by Lillian Simmons The Toll Roads Boondoggle

  2. The toll road contract requires that the competing roads will not be maintained, and the service roads will be cut up into segments, so that commuters will be forced to use the toll roads. No Alternative Roads

  3. Hidden Agenda • But which roads will not be maintained? And where will the service roads be broken up? • We don't know. Exits are unknown. TX DOT will not release final math. The contract has not been released to the public. • Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has filed a lawsuit to see the contract. • Cintra (toll road manager) sued the Texas AG to keep TTC Cintra/Perry deal a secret.

  4. Management • Its bank account is at the Bank of Santander in Spain. • MacQuarie is an Australian firm • The King of Spain is one of the owners of Cintra • The company that will be managing the toll roads will be Cintra-MacQuarie.

  5. Toll Rates • Speaking of bond issues, Cintra and MacQuarie are getting low interest loans from the US government to purchase the bonds. So again, taxpayers foot the bill for foreign corporate profit. Just what what do we get? Cintra also manages other toll roads in other states, including Indiana, Chicago and Ontario. In Ontario, Canada, Cintra has raised the tolls to 8 cents per mile. Ontario SUED Cintra over the toll increases, but LOST the suit because of the CONTRACT associated with the bond issue. Nothing can be done, because Cintra has a 99 year contract.but there is nothing they can do, because Cintra has a 99 year contract.

  6. Zachry is still owned by the same people as Cintra and still has its bank account at the Bank of Santander in Spain. Zachry pays a lease but gets ALL of the toll revenues! Cintra • Cintra and MacQuarie, ALWAYS form 'new companies' when they take over a toll road. . . but, it's always the same players playing US! • Cintra is doing business in Texas by purchasing a local company and operating under that company's name. • Cintra has purchased Zachry Construction and is operating under that name. • Zachry has the contract on the Texas toll roads.

  7. Bidding • CTRMA wrote its own legislation. There was corruption and • insider dealings, and bidding was closed. Bidding was not open to local companies. Zachry was awarded the bid for everything.

  8. Toll Proceeds • Bureaucrats love the General Fund. The General Fund is a loose account. Officials can get funds from the General Fund for almost anything without voter approval. • Zachry pays a lease to the State for being allowed to manage the toll roads. The lease proceeds go to the General Fund. • For example, representative Mike Krusee used money from the General Fund to set up the Texas Mobility Authority (TMA). The TMA is a bureaucrat's dream. It allows officials to build roads without consulting the electorate, and to charge tolls even after the costs of the roads are paid.

  9. No Accountability • The CTRMA (Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority) and TMA are APPOINTED boards that afford NO ACCOUNTABILITY for their actions and decisions. The last piece of legislation that Mike Krusee introduced, was specifically to give the 'POWER of EMMINENT DOMAIN' to the APPOINTED CTRMA board!!!!!!!! THIS is OUTRAGEOUS!!!! • Krusee has over $300k in his 'war chest' and he has NOT disclosed where it came from (out of state!) AND a lawsuit has been filed by Sal Costello (Tx Toll Party) because of this lack of disclosure, and because he falsified his employment position.

  10. MOST large corporations are NOT INCORPORATED WITHIN TEXAS, THEREBY EXEMPTING THEM FROM THE FRANCHISE TAX!-- the franchise tax is applied to companies incorporated within TX-- typically the 'small business owner' or ENTREPRENEUR!! Franchise Tax • The bond covers eighteen percent of the cost of building the tolls roads. The DOT pays for the rest. The Texas corporations are included in the deal. A special session of the legislature increased the portion and types of companies that have to pay tax. The sin tax was approved. The surplus will be used for education. But it will run out. Then the property taxes will probably be raised.

  11. CAMPO • When public officials want to push a deal which is so terrible that they dare not attach their name to it, then they set up an advisory commission to approve it. • They appoint common individuals who do not normally get paid for their opinion in the free market. And they pay them a fee. These individuals are flattered because they're being paid for their opinion. The officials are forceful in telling the commission that they NEED certain things approved. The individuals in the commission, who don't know how to stand up to such pressure, pass the boondoggle.

  12. New Tax on Texans • "Governor Perry and his friends spent a great deal of time researching ideas to create more revenue."— Ric Williamson, appointed by Rick Perry to govern TxDOT • Source: Texas Toll Party

  13. Solutions • What to do?

  14. GasTax • We don't need tolls to pay for new construction.  TXDOT has admitted that the phase 1 and phase 2 toll roads can be built with a gas tax increase of 1-3 cents.  Double that to pay for future maintenance and it's still really cheap.  A 15 cent per mile toll is equivalent to a gas tax of $2.25 per gallon if you get 15 mpg, and $4.50 if you get 30 mpg. Toll roads tax fuel efficient cars more than gas hogs.

  15. We don't need toll roads if the gas tax revenues are building the toll roads. They should be free roads like always. What we do need is a citizens oversight committee for TX DOT and full budgetary expenses/investment disclosure! Pass Through Financing We don't need tolls to finance immediate construction.  Pass through financing is a way for counties to sell bonds right now for construction, and then get reimbursed by TXDOT over the years depending on traffic levels.

  16. Other Roads • The toll roads are very expensive for the amount of traffic they're expected to carry.  Construction is costing $30M or more per mile, and many of these routes would be well served by a simple divided or non divided parkway, or even a county road.

  17. Don't Vote For Corruption • It is time for people to be informed that the amounts of donations a candidate receives is not a measure of his viability, but a measure of his corruption. If people don't want to vote for corruption, they should vote for the least-funded candidate, not the most-funded. -- Jon Roland Libertarian Nominee for TexasAttorney General

  18. Vote for Lillian Simmons Website: http://xld.com/ls/home.htm Take Mike Krusee out of the equation of corruption! Thank you to Barbara Samuelson for her help with this presentation. The End

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