Toll Hike Vote Delayed, Again

The suspense over whether a toll hike will go into effect next week will continue until Monday, after the Turnpike Authority put off a vote scheduled for Thursday due to the unsettled status of the state budget.

Turnpike board member Mary Connaughton said she thinks the agency could have gone ahead with vote, with the assumption that new funding in the budget will eliminate the need for the hike.

“My opinion is the toll hike will not go forward one way or another,” she said. “It’s just too overwhelmingly unpopular, and the legislature clearly agrees with that and has provided a mechanism to avoid the toll hike.”

That mechanism is a 25-percent sales tax increase, which is a key part of the budget that awaits Governor Deval Patrick’s signature.

Patrick has said he will not sign the budget until he has had a chance to review a recently passed ethics reform bill and a transportation bill, which, among other things, eliminates the Turnpike Authority.