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Agency: Project may need tolls hike

The warning targets Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority's decrease in "financial flexibility."

By JEAN HELLER
Published April 7, 2005

TAMPA - The board that runs the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway likely will have to raise tolls to be able to repay money it intends to borrow this summer, according to a major bond rating agency.

Fitch Ratings, one of three agencies that assess the financial health of public agencies and rate the investment risk associated with their bonds, placed a muted warning Wednesday on an issue of up to $215-million in bonds by the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority in June.

Revenue from the bonds will repay a $110-million loan from the Florida Department of Transportation, due June 30, and cover the estimated $80-million cost of repairing the inadequate foundations of the new elevated lanes of the Crosstown.

"The Rating Watch Negative is a result of a significant decrease in the authority's financial flexibility due to the cost increases associated with its elevated, reversible-lanes project," Fitch said in an announcement. ". . . Under various scenarios developed by Fitch, it appears that toll increases will likely need to be accelerated to maintain financial flexibility . . ."

Brady Sneath, chief financial officer of the Expressway Authority, said the caution "is not uncommon and was not unexpected."

As for the toll increase, authority spokeswoman Beth Leytham said the financing plan for the bond issue is not yet completed. A toll increase might be necessary if insurance companies fail to cover the cost of cleanup and repair of the bridge in a timely fashion, Leytham said.

If a toll increase is required, it will almost certainly make the task of attracting motorists to the new elevated road more difficult when it opens in the summer 2006. Many drivers say they don't trust the highway since it was determined that 162 of the 218 underground support columns require some degree of shoring up.

[Last modified April 7, 2005, 01:22:13]