Feds Question DRPA About Toll Increases
By David Madden
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Federal officials will be sitting down with officials from the Delaware River Port Authority with some questions about how toll increases were put into effect.
The General Accounting Office is questioning several agencies after New Jersey U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg called for a probe in the wake of a series of toll hikes on spans connecting north Jersey and New York City.
DRPA C.E.O. John Matheussen is ready to show the hikes here were both legal and proper.
'We have procedures that we've used and relied on back when we did the last toll increase," he said. "Back when we did the adjustments to our discounts in '03 and '04. We obviously have the charter that we would refer to, basically establishing our right to toll."
The DRPA increased tolls twice over the last four years, raising the round trip charges on its four bridges from $3 to $5.
