News

Indiana Toll Road Remains Contentious Infrastructure Financing Case. For Rep. Michael E. Capuano, the senior Democrat in a group of House Transportation Committee members that met with New York investment bankers Monday, the key private infrastructure investment case that needs explaining is the 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road by a group of investors including Macquarie Atlas Roads, created by the Macquarie Infrastructure Group, an Australian firm. As states take a keener interest in public-private partnerships to pay for infrastructure, “the first major one in the country that I remember was the Indiana Toll road and, as I sit here today, I still do not have answers” on the benefits and costs of that deal, Capuano, D-Mass., said during the discussion. Roll Call (blog)

Transurban flags toll interest in US roads. Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton has flagged interest in expanding the company’s US network by adding tolled lanes to interstate highways near Washington, DC. . . . Most US interstate highways are free but a $302 billion White House transport bill released in May wants to reverse a federal prohibition on most interstate tolling. Maryland, next to Virginia, was also passing laws to allow more private-sector involvement in roads, Mr Charlton said. WA today

PA: Bethlehem Area School Board blames charter schools for tax increase. When Bethlehem Area School District taxpayers open their property tax bills this year, they will see a letter letting them know who to blame for their almost 5 percent tax hike: Charter schools. . .When families opt to send a child to a charter school, Pennsylvania law mandates districts pay the charter tuition for that child. Charter schools are funded by local property taxes but operate independently, and the state stopped reimbursing districts for charter tuition during the 2011-12 school year. Tuition now creates “the greatest upward pressure on local property taxes,” Faccinetto wrote in the letter. The Express-Times

ME: Locals fight to stay on the right road. . .While the push to privatize is gaining momentum in the state many districts are not successful in their efforts to actually outsource staff. Local communities, with the help of MEA, have recently stopped privatization in several communities including RSU 4 where the district wanted to outsource bus drivers. The local association was able to bring the issue to voters who overwhelmingly told the school board they wanted to keep their existing drivers. Currently, statewide, there are less than 10 districts that outsource some or all of their custodial work. Similar community rejections to outsourcing for custodial work happened in both RSU 23 (Saco/Dayton) and South Portland. In fact, while school boards claim the effort saves money for taxpayers what many fail to realize, in the initial stages, are the implications of what privatization means for those workers who may be forced out, for the community and state as a whole.  NEA

VA: Pocahontas 895 toll road under a new operator. Pocahontas 895 has a new operator, a year after an Australian company walked away from a long-term concession for the underperforming toll parkway across the James River between Henrico and Chesterfield counties. DBi Services, based in northeastern Pennsylvania, quietly assumed control of the parkway — the first road built by public-private partnership in Virginia — on May 15 and informed local government officials two weeks later. Richmond Times Dispatch