The State Senate paid $14.1 million out of a pot of pork barrel money to cover the loss of toll revenue for the first year.

“It was a revenue-neutral deal,” said Rus Thompson, who is leading a drive to end tolls on the Grand Island bridges.

Sen. Volker draws fire for remarks on toll hike
Cited loss of Niagara Thruway revenues

Area motorists cheered last October as the state Thruway Authority stopped collecting tolls at the Niagara Thruway’s Breckenridge and South Ogden Street barriers.

Now, a powerful state senator says that move is one factor behind the authority’s proposal to raise Thruway tolls.

“One of the reasons that the Thruway is proposing a toll increase is because they’re going to lose some revenue here,” Sen. Dale M. Volker, R-Depew, said.

His comments have sparked a backlash from the community leaders who had argued for years that the toll booths unfairly burdened area commuters and had to come down.

The state made sure that ending the tolls didn’t hurt the authority’s bottom line, Volker’s critics said, and the proposed hike is almost entirely driven by a drop in use of the Thruway.

“I have no idea why he would have said that,” said lawyer Michael B. Powers, who sued to challenge the tolls. “It’s not accurate, and it tries to cast a shadow on a great day for Western New York.”

In response, Volker said he wasn’t pinning blame for the proposed toll hike directly on the removal of the two toll barriers.

“They’ve been talking about [a hike] for a while,” he said. “This just spurred it a little more.”

Powers, developer Carl P. Paladino and others had fought for years to persuade the Thruway Authority to shut down the Breckenridge and Ogden Street tolls barriers.

Thruway officials long maintained that they couldn’t afford to end toll collection there because the authority must rely on a consistent revenue stream to sell bonds to investors.

The authority estimated it collected about $14 million annually at the two barriers.

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