NEW YORK - WASTE AND MORE WASTE AHEAD!

Submitted by: BobJen

'Free' E-ZPass doled out to state workers, retirees

ALBANY - Every time you drive through that E-ZPass lane it costs you. But the Waste Watchers have learned not everyone pays.
Thousands of state workers and retirees are getting a free ride. Tolls that are never collected. Money that never goes back into the Thruway budget.
That bothers school Principal Tom Sincavage, who spends up to $50 on E-ZPass each month.
"To drive from where I live in Canajoharie to Albany, probably costs me additional five dollars in tolls in addition to the gas. So I think that's wrong," he said.

So who exactly gets a free E-ZPass? It's is partly who you might expect -- over 4,000 state police and officials who travel the Thruway for business.
NewsChannel 13 also discovered that over 4,000 additional Thruway and Canal Corporation employees ride for free. Some receive the perk just for commuting to work, but most are riding the entire state Thruway at no charge.
And the biggest perk? Retirees hired before 2005. They get a free E-ZPass for life.
"Whether it's a perk, benefit, negotiated, it's not something I'm going to sit here to defend. It's obviously something we've taken action on to end," Executive Director of the state Thruway Authority MichaelFleischer said.
Fleischer said he inherited the system and has negotiated with state labor unions to limit the benefit that's costing a grand total of about $569,000 a year in uncollected tolls, although it could be more.
Fleischer said the Authority only tracks the use periodically. So if employees run personal errands or share the pass with friends, it represents more in uncollected tolls.
"It sounds like a loosey-goosey system where the numbers aren't tracked very closely," said Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Haven said lost revenue from free E-ZPass is money that could be spent maintaining the Thruway or keeping tolls from going up.
"Either the Thruway is doing less with more or at some point they're going to raise the tollrates because they have to make up for lost revenue," Haven added.
In fact, tolls have gone up 10 percent since 2009to pay for several billion dollars in road and bridge improvements.
"Again it's less than onepercent of our revenue,” Fleischerinsisted. “So I don't think there's a material impact on the toll rates or what we could accomplish on the road, but I do understand the principal of people not looking kindly on it."
Thruway drivers like Sincavage said when E-ZPass is doled out as a perk, it takes drivers like him for a ride.
"Somebody in the end is paying for it, and it's you and I who are paying for it, and so that's why it's wrong," he said.
Fleischer said even though he could have an E-ZPass he chose not to on principle, paying for his tolls instead.
If you have a tip on government spending, we want to hear from you. Send an email to WasteWatchers@wnyt.com.