MassDOT Secretary Davey Asks NVCC Members to Support Transportation Bill

MassDOT secretary and CEO Richard Davey was in Walpole Tuesday morning for a breakfast with members of the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce.  

A day after the House passed a $500 million transportation bill to help balance MassDOT's budget gap, Davey was asking those in attendance, at the British Beer Company on Route 1, to support a much larger bill - about $1.9 billion - that would help fund transportation and education in the state.

“What I really want you all to understand…is that the current transportation system we have we cannot afford. We just can’t,” Davey said.

Davey said the MBTA is the most indebted transit agency in the United States with almost $9 billion in debt.

He said that the proposed $500 million bill by the House would only right the balance sheet of the MBTA and MassDOT and would not allow them to make any capital improvements, which he says are vital.

“While $500 million, which is the net result of this package over the next couple of years, certainly rights the balance sheets of the T and the DOT, it does not allow us to make those capital investments in things like Route 1A, which has come up in the past and a whole list of other projects in this region in particular,” he said.

“We think a bigger bill, an investing bill is more important for the Commonwealth at this juncture,” said Davey.

Gov. Deval Patrick's $1.9 billion bill would be funded by "lowering the sales tax, increasing the income tax, doubling exemptions, etc.,” Davey told the NVCC members in attendance.

The House's $500 million plan would be done through raising "the cigarette tax and the gas tax by three cents and then as we had proposed raises tolls, fares and fees a little more aggressively than what the administration would have had,” he said.

According to Boston.com, Gov. Patrick said he would veto the $500 million bill passed by the House on Monday.

The Senate will take up the bill next and Gov. Patrick is hoping to find more of a middle ground than what the House had to offer, the Boston.com article said.

Said Davey: “We are in the throes of this debate. I am going to unabashedly ask you for help. If you care about transportation, if you care about the economy, if you care about the Commonwealth and moving forward become educated, challenge me, challenge your representatives and senators to think deeply about this and to make sure we get it right now, as opposed to what I feel a little bit is kicking the can another couple years.”