Gov. Larry Hogan finally was able to have a "triumphant" moment when he unilaterally lowered tolls that will cost the Maryland Transportation Authority $54 million per year in funding that could have been used to rehabilitate our infrastructure or plan, design and build new infrastructure ("What price for lower tolls?" May 7).
The amount given back to toll users, many of whom are out-of-state drivers using our facilities and causing wear and tear, will reduce the ability to maintain our highways, bridges and transportation infrastructure. The toll increase under the previous administration took blood, sweat and tears to pass, but it was the right thing to do. Now Governor Hogan, without vetting the issue, partially rolls back the toll increase.
At the same time, the Board of Regents for the Maryland University System increased tuition by 4 percent or more, amounting to an increase of more than $400 and sometimes considerably more for every student attending a public university in the Maryland system. To me, this sounds like a tax. Although it is not a tax, it still costs families (approximately 80 percent or more of whom are Maryland residents) $400 more each year to attend college, which is already a very tough financial burden on many families. Governor Hogan claims that Gov. Martin O'Malley was always raising taxes. However, Governor O'Malley instituted a four-year tuition freeze in 2007 and then limited tuition increases to 3 percent while increasing higher-education funding by 34 percent to $1.4 billion.
So, on the one hand, Governor Hogan is giving back $2 in tolls to every person crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. On the other hand, every Maryland family attending a Maryland public college will pay $400 or more per year. The math is simple. If the average Maryland family crosses the Bay Bridge more than 200 times, then the toll reduction offsets the tuition increase. Thank you, Governor Hogan, for your tuition increase.
Morton Straus