HomeMy WebLinkAboutMARIE S From: Denise Colber
Subject: Public Comments for the council meeting
Date: Wednesday, May 20,2020 7:39:24 AM
Please read at the Public comments for the meeting.
Dear City Council,
I am writing to bring to your attention a serious fiscal crisis that may be brewing within the TCA. The TCA
—or Toll Roads is a government agency that is also known as the Foothill Eastern and San Joaquin Hills
Transportation Corridor Agencies. Since you may have Councilmembers sitting on the board, I am
hopefully not telling you something at least some of you don't already know. TCA ridership is down and
will be using is facing a potential revenue crisis that could ultimately cause a collapse of the carefully
arranged deck of cards that forms its enormous long term debt burden.
The TCA has been feeding a growing debt machine for decades. A total long term debt of$2.9 billion at
completion of the two toll roads in 1998 has somehow grown to $4.9 billion today, despite 20 years of
principal and interest payments.
The TCA has never had sufficient revenue to handle its enormous debt, but rather than admitting that and
allowing another agency to over, somehow your directors and others endorsed repeated refinancing's
with capital appreciation bonds, meaning that unpaid interest has been added to the principal each year
so that outstanding debt grows rather than diminishes.
At this point, it will take another$11 billion before these toll roads are "freeways"- if ever.And worse,
payoff dates have been extended from 2033 and 2040 San Joaquin to 2050 and 2053 for Foothill. Our
grandchildren's children may be the first to benefit from decades of tolls and developer impact fees—fees
and taxes that will have been paid by your constituents either as tolls or increases in the costs of housing
and doing business in the County for over half a century. All of this for two roads that we will have paid
for several times over.
Now, with the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, these grossly over-leveraged agencies are poised to
finally pay the piper. It is doubtful that revenue will be sufficient to cover debt covenants. While there are
some unrestricted assets, these may have to be sold at a loss and may not be sufficient to carry the
agencies through an extended period of economic downturn.
At the same time, TCA has recently placed 5 of its board members on the OCTA board and is poised to
extend its reach outside its original scope, now wanting to build un-tolled roads for OCTA, and no doubt,
get the debt ball rolling all over again.
Please stop this. Enough is enough. A comprehensive State audit of TCA's huge debt load, its bloated
expenses and unsustainable financial prospects is long overdue. Taxpayers need you to be responsible
and protect us from an agency that has exploded beyond its original intent, burdening taxpayers with
unending fees and tolls to feed a ravenous debt machine. I strongly urge your TCA representatives to
take a good look at these agencies and take action now to stop this while we still can. TCA needs to
focus on its original charter—stop expanding, pay off its debt, and go out of business as soon as
possible.
Thank you.
Marie S.