The Sakonnet River Bridge. Photo by Steve Klamkin, WPRO News.
By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
In a last minute move, the Sakonnet River Bridge tolls made a comeback. The House of Representatives and Senate passed a trailer bill late Tuesday night that will allow a 10 cent toll on the bridge starting in mid-August.
With Governor Lincoln Chafee hesitating to sign the budget, leaders worked behind the scenes to come up with a palatable compromise to the Sakonnet River Bridge toll debate.
The residents of the East Bay and those who work and live in Newport have strongly opposed the tolls.
"You would think that the way this assembly treats us, we're a foreign country," said Rep. John Edwards, the Portsmouth representative that championed the budget article.
But Chafee and the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority saw them as a necessary evil. When asked about the budget, Chafee told WPRO that the tolls were one of his major concerns.
A budget article introduced on the House floor during the budget debate last week would have suspended the controversial tolls until at least February of 2014. The article mandated that the tolls only be implemented after a commission studied them. The article would have also frozen tolls on the Pell Bridge.
But late Tuesday, House Majority Leader Nicholas Mattiello introduced a trailer bill to change the language of the article.
The bill would allow tolls to be implemented on the Sakonnet River Bridge as soon as mid-August, but tolls could not exceed 10 cents. The bill would also allow RITBA to raise tolls on the Pell Bridge. The bill sets April 2014 as the date tolls could be hiked above 10 cents.
“What we’re trying to do in this trailer bill is maintain the intent of the original Article 5, while addressing the situation that has come to light,” Mattiello said. “Once a bridge is substantially completed, you cannot place a toll on the bridge.”
Federal law would prevent the state from implementing a toll once construction on the Sakonnet Bridge is completed. Mattiello said the bridge will be completed by August 23, well before the February 2014 date suggested for toll implementation.
“If we don’t do this trailer, the option of tolling is off the table,” he said.
"You can't play games with the federal government, nor should you," said Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed in a rare floor speech. Paiva Weed, a Newport resident, spoke in favor of the bill, saying if they didn't pass it, they would be passing on "crumbling infrastructure" to future generations. She said it was difficult being a representative of Jamestown and Newport that was in support of the bill, but she said she believed it was for the best.
Some Representatives and Senators voiced their concern about the proposal.
“What we’re doing is going back on our word,” said Rep. Scott Guthrie (D-Coventry), noting that 52 of his fellow representatives voted for a budget without the Sakonnet tolls. “All we’re doing is playing games with the people in the East Bay.”
“Our collective word to the state of Rhode Island is no good anymore,” said Rep. O’Neill (D-Pawtucket), saying they’re undoing what they voted to do only five days prior. “How do we expect to have the opportunity…to lead as a body if we’re constantly saying ‘oops’ and ‘sorry?’”
The bill passed the House Finance Committee in a 12-1 vote Tuesday night, and the full House passed the bill 40-25 after more than an hour of heated debate. The Senate then immediately took up the bill, discussing it and voting 29-8 in favor of its passage.
Chafee is expected to sign the budget — as amended by the trailer bill — at some point on Wednesday.
