Toll road plan prompts questions

Lawmakers were advised Thursday that a plan to have private companies fund upfront construction costs of toll roads and then pocket part of the toll revenue may require an amendment to the Nevada Constitution.

The issue of how toll collection fees could be distributed came up during a Senate Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation meeting on SB206, which sets guidelines for toll roads in Nevada.

The measure states that any toll road fees must "except for the costs of administration be used exclusively for the construction, maintenance and repair of the public highways of this state."

Public-private partnerships are needed because there's not enough state money to fund a billion-dollar project to ease highway congestion, especially in the Las Vegas area, said Nevada Transportation Director Susan Martinovich, adding that toll revenues would help pay for other highway improvements.

Martinovich said the state would still own the roads and a commission that would include the governor or lieutenant governor, state Transportation Board members, attorney general, controller, legislators and others would determine how excess toll revenue would be spent.

The Department of Transportation is working to resolve the constitutional concerns, Martinovich said after the hearing.

"It may be a matter of instead of them (private companies) collecting it and actually taking the money first to pay themselves back, which might be the constitutional glitch," Martinovich said. "What will happen is that it will go into the highway fund and then we pay them back under a contract."

Legislative lawyers will meet with the agency to ensure that toll money can be handled in a constitutional manner, Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, the bill's author, said after the hearing.

"We just have to go through the right process to put the money in the right places to then help with the construction and administration to pay for the toll roads," Lee said.

Potential contracts with private companies would eventually expire and the state would retain all toll revenues after that, he added.

"The companies get a return on their investment and the state shares the excesses of that money too," Lee said. "This pays out long-term."

Martinovich said the measure could result in "a project on the ground with users using it in four to five years." However, delays would result if a constitutional amendment is required. That would take four years and require a popular vote.

Sen. Michael Schneider, D-Las Vegas, cautioned Martinovich that public-private partnerships should not be entered into lightly.

"When you get in bed with the guys on Wall Street, those guys are sharks and they don't sign that deal till they know that they're pulling hundreds of millions in commissions and everything else," Schneider said.