What Tedisco said is right on.. Spending in the thruway authority is out of control just as is the government in this state.

Assemblyman Jim Tedisco/R-Minority Leader: “When are we going to stand up and say hold it, the problem isn’t revenues. The problem is spending and your priorities in spending.”

Assembly Republicans Hold Hearings on Thruway Toll Hike

Assembly Republicans take it upon themselves to try to stop a planned toll increase on the Thruway — saying it amounts to a discriminatory tax hike on Upstaters.

The Assembly minority kicked off a series of public hearings on Tuesday about a proposal from the Thruway Authority to raise tolls about 20% over the next 3 years.

The lawmakers heard from people who do not like the idea of a toll hike, but some of them do recognize that the people who use the road should be the ones who pay for its upkeep.

The lawmakers say they are planning to introduce a bill in the Assembly that would require the Thruway Authority to get their OK if it wants to raise tolls.

They got an earful from some people who say a toll increase is basically a death sentence to many small businesses in Upstate New York.

Assemblyman George Amedore/R-Rotterdam: “In business if you have a product you can’t sell, you’re looking for customers, you don’t raise the price. You make it more attractive.”

That is part of why George Amedore and other Assembly Republicans are calling into question the need to raise tolls on the Thruway.

The Thruway Authority says higher gas prices have meant fewer people using the road, so they need to hike fees to make up the difference.

These lawmakers say the bulk of the Thruway’s users live upstate, and are already cutting corners in a tough economy — and wonder why the Thruway Authority shouldn’t have to do the same thing.

Assemblyman Jim Tedisco/R-Minority Leader: “When are we going to stand up and say hold it, the problem isn’t revenues. The problem is spending and your priorities in spending.”

The Republican want to introduce a bill that would make the Thruway Authority come before the Legislature and plead the case for a toll hike rather than make the decision on its own.

End users say they don’t mind paying to use the road, so long as the money is going where it is supposed to, and so long as it doesn’t put small, Thruway-dependent businesses at risk of going under in the process.

Steven Stelmer/Associated General Contractors: “The Thruway itself is an engine for economic growth. It’s a superhighway that connects the entire state and allows for the free flow of trade and commerce throughout New York State and we need to make sure that we maintain, properly maintain and invest in that asset.”

“I will organize a boycott to boycott the Thruway and we’ll starve the Thruway through the tolls. If I’m going to go down, I’m going to go down like Davy Crockett in the Alamo, fighting.”

The Republicans are planning four more hearings in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Orange County in the next week.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Democratic majority are planning hearings later this month — and say the toll increase should not be allowed to take effect until Comptroller Tom DiNapoli finishes his audit of the Thruway Authority to see if the hike is actually needed.

var sc_project=1609654; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_partition=15; var sc_security=”26e26d49″;