STEUBENVILLE - "Everybody slow down, chill out, let's study this," said Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday on the renewed uproar from an older proposal of his to sell or lease the Ohio Turnpike.
Kasich, a Republican, took a few moments in his State of the State address to address the debate, stirring again, over privatizing the 241-mile toll road across northern Ohio now that it's been announced that funding for some of Ohio's largest road improvement projects was being delayed due to funding constraints.
The announcement led some opponents of selling or leasing the road to speculate that the project setbacks were a ploy to push through the governor's proposal, a suggestion he denies.
"We didn't take your highway money," Kasich said. "I don't want to be misleading people anymore. ... We are $1.6 (billion) to $2 billion short. ... . I didn't take the money and I didn't put this thing out now so I can get the turnpike. That's just boloney, that's not what this is about. It's to begin to tell the truth to people so they can understand the situation that we are in."
New York-based KPMG, a financial services and audit firm, has been selected by the Ohio Department of Transportation to review the turnpike, ultimately to provide what a Kasich spokesman has called a "dispassionate, informed, unbiased look at what could be the highest use for the turnpike."
"We will never give up underlying control of the turnpike, but if we can bond against that revenue or if we can lease it and take care of the maintenance and make sure that the people who live there, who have largely been ignored over the past 40 years, the people who live there get a responsive agreement from those that might take this turnpike over and if we can generate billions of dollars, we don't want to do that, you got to be kidding me," Kasich said.
Last week, some elected officials in communities along the turnpike unified in opposition to its sale or lease, saying they had reservations about higher tolls, less maintenance and traffic shifting to other routes.
Those opposed to the sale said they would do their own study to analyze the proposal of privatizing the turnpike and will hold hearings in communities that line the roadway.
Kasich stressed a decision has not been made, but lawmakers in the last budget gave the authority to enable a sale or lease.
"What we need to remember, the ship has sailed," said state Sen. Capri Cafaro, D-Hubbard, who voted against the budget. "Do they have the authority and the ability to do it? Yes. The question is should they do it? They probably should not."
She said at risk is turnpike jobs and maintenance, plus Ohio not getting the true value of the road because of changes in the bond market since 2005, when Indiana privatized a toll road.
Cafaro said there also are reports of quality being down and tolls being up.
"Obviously, we don't want to see a repeat of Indiana," she said.