Keith: "Tolls will have a serious effect on economic development."

Jim Keith has a fine, thoughtful letter in today's OSIN. Since I didn't get "popped-up" today, I'll include the link, although I suspect it's a ruse, and the bean counters are planning further outrages against taste and decency.

Tolls will have a serious effect on economic development

There are those who want you to believe if you are opposed to tolls on Interstate 65 bridges you are opposed to building the bridge. That is far from the truth and most people realize the necessity for getting the bridges built as soon as possible.

The Bridges Authority, a group appointed by the government, has been given the task of finding funds necessary to get the bridges built and has proposed tolls as the only way possible to get them completed.

But tolling will have a very serious affect, not only on tourism, but on workers who come from Louisville to work in Southern Indiana and, of course, those who live in Southern Indiana and work in Louisville. These workers will essentially receive a bill every month just for going to work.

My main concern is for economic development and the affect tolling would have on it. Representing the tourism industry, I can’t see any benefit to tolls. Comments I have received from the hospitality industry have included:

1. We get considerable overflow for conventions from Louisville such as the Gospel Quartet Convention, which will be in town next week. Those people have choices as to where they stay. In the future, they may choose to stay farther south from Louisville to avoid paying tolls. That’s a convention where people tend to go back and forth to the Kentucky Fairgrounds several times a day.

2. The hotels which run shuttle services to the convention center venues and airport will undoubtedly see a major dollar increase in that service they provide for their customers.

3. Employees. Many of our hospitality industries employ people who live in Louisville, thus increasing the employee’s cost or imposing an additional tax for working in Southern Indiana. All things being equal, it reduces the pool of applicants to work in Southern Indiana if they want to continue earning the same amount of money as they have before. I do not see that as an economic benefit to Southern Indiana.

We need a new bridge as transportation is vital to economic development. That we agree with. Imposing a tax that is divisive to the metropolitan area and penalizes Southern Indiana is not an economic development benefit to the community.

Please share your thoughts to anyone who will listen as we continue on what has been a four-decades-long project — the building of an additional bridge across the Ohio River. When it’s all said and done, this will be a political decision.

We’ll just see if our elected leaders have the will to build the bridge, which is a government responsibility, without addition of toll, fee or burden to the residents of our community.

— James P. Keith, Executive Director, Clark-Floyd Counties Convention-Tourism Bureau