New Jersey likely won't be turning over the keys to the Garden State
Parkway or New Jersey Turnpike to a private corporation, a state
senator said Tuesday.
Gov. Jon S. Corzine, whose administration is studying ways to extract a
lump-sum payment out of assets like the state's toll roads, will likely
partner with a public entity to "securitize" the state's future toll
revenue instead of privatizing them, said Sen. Raymond Lesniak,
D-Elizabeth, who sponsors a legislative proposal allowing
public-private or public-public partnerships for the state's toll roads.
Lesniak said a deal will likely be struck with the New Jersey Turnpike
Authority, which would continue to run the roads without any of the
safety, maintenance or governance concerns that critics have about
private management.
"It's
hard to think otherwise, because the benefits are so great and the
safeguards are so secure that I think it would be difficult to not
support it," said Lesniak, who called a deal with a private company
"pretty much dead."
Lesniak said Corzine "is convinced this is a good proposal." But state
Treasurer Bradley Abelow, Corzine's point man on asset monetization,
said he hasn't talked to Corzine in recent weeks about the matter.
"I can't tell you what's ruled in and what's ruled out," Abelow said.
Abelow said he will soon talk with Corzine about whether it makes sense
for the state to monetize its toll roads -- a process some officials
think will net the state up front cash for debt reduction, school
construction or open space preservation.
Corzine spokesman Brendan Gilfillan declined comment.
If a deal is struck with the turnpike authority, it would borrow money
to pay the state, then recoup its investments through yearly toll
increases, Lesniak said.
Keeping the toll roads in the hands of a public body would quell some concerns of critics.
"If
the turnpike were to securitize future toll revenue and arrive with a
lump sum today, that prevents privatization," said Assemblyman John S.
Wisniewski, D-Sayreville, the Transportation Committee chairman and a
chief critic of ceding state control of toll roads. "However . . . tens
of billions of dollars of leveraged money to theoretically pay off
leveraged money, I'm not sure is in the best long-term interests."
The New Jersey Public Interest Group, or NJPIRG, launched a petition
drive Tuesday asking Corzine to pledge he would not strike a deal
without keeping public control of the roads, getting fair value or a
conducting a transparent process.
"Doing
a deal with a public authority does address a number of our concerns,
but not all," NJPIRG's Abigail Caplovitz Field said.
In broad strokes, Corzine has pledged he won't leverage toll roads
unless he can ensure high standards of road maintenance, public safety
and reasonable and predictable toll increases.
Similar objections were raised in letters sent to governors last week
by two members of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure.
