Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Monday said she would not propose tolls on motorists driving in from across any of the borders with neighboring states.

The statement came after state Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt discussed the possibility of erecting border tolls during an April 10 meeting of the advocacy group WalkMassachusetts. Following remarks in which she took municipal police departments to task for not doing enough to cite speeding motorists, she raised the tolls as a potential source of revenue for transportation improvements.

"The secretary's comments do not represent the views of this administration; and to be clear I am not proposing tolls at any border," Healey said in the Monday statement. "I have spoken to the Secretary and made that clear, and that I have confidence in her leadership moving forward in this important time as we work to ensure a strong and robust state transportation system."

Motorists pay tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike, as well as tolls at certain bridges and tunnels, including the Tobin Bridge and the Callahan, Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels.

The border toll proposal was one of several floated by Tibbits-Nutt, including charging higher payroll taxes, charging more for package deliveries, charging fees for rideshare transportation services, and increasing the excise tax on oversized and electric vehicles. The state's roads, Tibbits-Nutt said, were not designed for the added weight of electric vehicles, and particularly the weight of SUVs and other outsized electric vehicles.

Tibbits-Nutt suggested police stop writing warnings and start issuing citations to speeding drivers.

"We have the data," Tibbits-Nutt said, referring to the lack of citations. She linked the lack of speed limit enforcement to the fact that motorists are not slowing down. "We will take your license," she promised, adding that if someone is driving 95 miles per hour in a 45 zone, municipal police should step up to make sure they're not driving in Massachusetts for long.

Healey said Monday her administration's top "priorities are making Massachusetts a more affordable place and bringing people together to get things done."

Tibbits-Nutt's comments were sharply criticized by the Republican governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, as well as the conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance and the Republican State Committee.

“Secretary Tibbits-Nutt’s comments are simply reprehensible," said Paul Diego Craney, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. "Decisions to raise taxes, fees, or adding tolling should be made by our elected legislature, not announced by an overzealous, unelected bureaucrat before a special interest advocacy organization. Our state government should make life easier for people, not harder."

The group called on Tibbits-Nutt to resign.

"The Secretary’s policy initiatives are the antithesis of what’s needed in Massachusetts," said Amy Carnevale, MassGOP chairwoman.

Citing a recent report that found many middle and high-income earners leaving Massachusetts, Carnevale said that aAdding more taxes, more tolls, and more penalties for ordinary Massachusetts residents is only going to make Massachusetts less affordable, and add to the mass migration the Commonwealth has been experiencing."

News Source : https://www.telegram.com/story/news/state/2024/04/22/healey-no-plan-to-put-traffic-tolls-at-massachusetts-borders/73414177007/