Praises governor, offers alternative solutions to crisis Guest Column JOHN S. WISNIEWSKI Gov. Jon Corzine should be commended. Yes. That's what I said. He should be commended. His frank assessment of the state's dire fiscal condition and his desire to implement strict financial discipline is not the sort of thing we are accustomed to hearing from our elected officials in New Jersey. The lion's share of his fiscal restructuring and debt-reduction plan contains recommendations that everyone in Trenton should actively support. A spending freeze, a cap on future spending and mandatory voter approval for future borrowing are reforms that we should seek to enact with all due haste. However, the final part of the plan- capturing the value inherent in our toll roads through massive toll increases, orchestrated through a public benefit corporation - should give us pause. Let me be clear. The overall goal of fully funding transportation infrastructure should be applauded. However, the effort to pay off half of the state's debt by securitizing future toll payments, as dictated by a public-benefit corporation, is grossly unfair to motoristswho utilize our toll roads out of necessity, not convenience. Pursuit of this part of the plan, which would raise tolls anywhere from 400-800 percent, would have a severe negative impact on the financial well-being ofmotorists in seven counties, who would be forced to shoulder 75 percent of the cost of the plan simply because they live near one of the state's three toll roads. Motorists simply cannot afford to absorb increases of this magnitude, even if they are spread out over the next 14 years. An 800-percent toll hike would force commuters and truckers alike to flock to little-used local roads to avoid paying the increased tolls, which will impact the condition of our secondary roadways and our way of life. And those businesses that continue to ship goods via New Jersey toll roads would likely increase the price of their goods to adjust for the impact of the new tolls, essentially forcing motorists to pay for the increases twice, directly and indirectly. The good news is that there are alternatives. The bad news is that no alternative is without a certain amount of pain. The first alternative is a proposal I have created that adopts the fiscal responsibility portions of Gov. Corzine's plan, proposes alternative funding sources to fund the state's Transportation Capital Plan and refinance New Jersey's imperiled Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), and presents other potential sources of revenue to help reduce debt. Under this plan, state spending would be frozen at 2008 levels, future spending increases would only be permissible when accompanied by recurring revenue sources, and the state constitution would be amended to require any and all future borrowing be subject to voter approval, with additional limits to ensure that the length of newly issued debt does not exceed the useful life of the capital improvements being funded. The plan would finance the state's transportation needs through a combination of smallertoll and motor-fuels tax increases that would bring the state's permile toll and per-gallon gas tax more in line with national averages and neighboring states. To fund capital improvements to our toll roads, the plan would require: • an immediate 25-percent increase in tolls on theNewJersey Turnpike, followed by 25-percent toll increases in 2012 and 2016; • an immediate 15-cent increase in tolls, to 50 cents on the Garden State Parkway, followed by an increase to 75 cents in 2014; • an immediate increase in tolls to 75 cents on the Atlantic City Expressway, followed by an increase to $1 in 2014. To finance the TTF, the plan would implement an 18-cent gas tax increase at a rate of 6 cents per year over the next three years, constitutionally dedicated to the TTF. Thereafter, the gas tax would be adjusted annually for inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index. The plan alsowould require increasing the rent for all toll-road rest-stop gas and concession stations, as well as exploring the possibility of selling or leasing the air rights along all three toll roads. Together, these measures would generate in excess of $1.6 billion annually, which would fund the TTF on a 60/40 split between payas you-go and bonded revenue. The plan also would investigate options for paying down substantial portions of the state's existing $32-billion debt burden through a potential sale or lease of noninfrastructure-related state assets, most notably the state lottery, which could net upwards of $10 billion for the state. The second alternative is to listen. Instead of rushing to implement the governor's solution, my alternative plan or any other variant, we should stop to listen to the will of the electorate and consider making serious cuts in state spending first. In opinion polls and across the state at the governor's town hall meetings, residents have cried out for spending cuts, regardless of how deep. We owe it to them to attempt to make these cuts and measure the results before considering the implementation of something more radical. These planswill be here tomorrow, a year from now, and five years from now; once we implement them, however, we are stuck with the results, whatever they may be. And as a legislator, the one law I refuse to vote for is the law of unintended consequences. We are at a significant crossroads in New Jersey, and we cannot continue to afford to blindly rush down the path of least resistance. It's time for us to take the road less traveled. John S. Wisniewski, D-19, is a New Jersey General Assembly member and chairman of the Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee