Cortese calls for audit of dubious local bridge toll spending
Tolls keep rising, while MTC keeps asking for more taxes. State Senator Dave Cortese wants to get to the bottom of the murky accounting practices that are hiding the facts. SJ Merc reports.
State Sen. Dave Cortese, a Santa Clara County Democrat, sent a letter to the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Legislative Audit on Thursday that asks lawmakers to approve an audit of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
The government body receives about $700 million each year in tolls that residents pay to cross seven bridges, including the Bay Bridge and Richmond Bridge, and has broad power to spend that money — for example, on bridge painting and maintenance or regional transit projects.
“It’s a lot of money,” Cortese said. The lawmaker chairs the state Senate Transportation Committee, sits on the legislative audit committee and used to chair the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as a local elected official. “We’re talking about tens of billions of dollars.”
As the commission continues to raise tolls and considers asking voters to sign off on a sales tax increase, some officials are asking questions about the commission’s use of that revenue, responding to concerns raised by critics that the agency’s lax accounting could undermine support.
“An independent review would help provide clarity on the financial management of these funds and foster confidence in the ongoing toll increases,” Cortese’s letter says.
If the legislative committee approves the request, an audit could be complete by the end of 2025, the senator said.
“We look forward to working with the state auditor to answer the questions raised in Senator Cortese’s request,” said John Goodwin, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
In particular, the commission is facing questions for its accounting practice of pooling together funds from several measures approved since 1988 by Bay Area voters.
Those measures, which raised tolls, were supposed to fund specific kinds of projects.
For instance: Voters passed Regional Measure 2 in 2004 that raised the toll price on bridges by $1 to pay for pedestrian, cycling and traffic projects on and around the bridges.
However, commission leaders have been unable to say how much money was raised from the measure and what exactly the various tolls are paying for.
In a December meeting of the Bay Area Toll Authority, which votes on toll increases, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan asked commission officials how much money was raised by Regional Measure 2. Andrew Fremier, the commission’s executive director, said commission staff were working on that and couldn’t provide numbers.
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