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Cleveland
Plain Dealer...
Gov. John Kasich
wants $3 billion deal to lease the Ohio Turnpike
By Reginald Fields
Thursday, February 10, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Gov. John Kasich said he wants at least $3 billion for
leasing out the Ohio Turnpike, which he calls an under-utilized state
asset.
The governor has talked for months about potentially privatizing the
turnpike, much like Indiana has done, to create new revenue for the
cash-strapped state.
On Thursday, while speaking to the Ohio Newspaper Association in
Columbus, the Republican leader put a price tag on the 241-mile toll
road.
“Wouldn’t it be fantastic if I could take another country in Ohio
called the turnpike, if I could privatize it and generate as much as
$2.5 billion, potentially? We’ll see,” Kasich said. “If we can’t get
it, we probably won’t do it.”
Kasich wants a little over $3 billion for the turnpike. Once the state
retires about $600 million in debt associated with the toll road, it
would net Ohio about $2.5 billion under the governor’s dream scenario.
“I can take that money and I can put a billion dollars in
infrastructure,” Kasich said. “Wouldn’t that be fantastic instead of
having an asset that is under-utilized in the state at a time when we
are in a crisis? I think so. But change is hard.”
The turnpike installed a new automated tolling system known as E-Z Pass
in October 2009 and at the same time raised toll prices. Those moves
led to an Ohio Turnpike record $236 million in collections last year.
Kasich, with help from the state legislature, is already trying to
privatize the state’s economic development efforts. He is also
considering privatizing more prisons, control over state liquor sales
and the state’s lottery.
Ohio lawmakers next month will begin negotiating the next two-year
state operating budget and are expected to have to address as much as
an $8 billion deficit. The governor has ruled out tax increases to fill
the budget hole. Instead, he favors a combination of cuts and
restructuring state government, which includes privatizing some public
entities.
Indiana in 2006 leased its 157-mile toll road for $3.85 billion.
Read it in the Cleveland Plain Dealer
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