TOP TEN REASONS WHY FINANCING THE ICC WITH GARVEE BONDS IS A BAD IDEA

1) The GARVEE bond funding plan is Government By Credit Card at its worst--we are mortgaging our transportation future. This is too much debt for the state to take on.

2) Every other transportation need in the state will automatically be in line behind the ICC, our capital investing power will be seriously diminished, limiting all other projects.

3) GARVEE bonds borrow money against future federal transportation funds. Payments for the amount borrowed are skimmed off the top each year before Maryland's share of federal transportation aid dollars are given to the state.

4) The Ehrlich administration's plan aims to borrow $1 billion in GARVEEs exclusively for the ICC. Payments would be $100 million in federal funds for 15 years.

5) This $100 million payment would be the entire federal transportation aid increase expected to be authorized by Congress this year. Under this GARVEE plan 1 of every 5 dollars of all federal transportation aid would go to one project. The entire increase between what Maryland currently receives and what is expected to come from Congress would all go straight to the ICC.

6) In future federal transportation aid reauthorizations, far smaller increases in aid to states are widely expected to occur. Once we are locked into an annual $100 million GARVEE payment, we don't even know what our future revenue picture looks like. In fact, this year the federal government went so far as to take back $22 million in transportation aid that had already been allocated to Maryland to balance the federal budget--this is a sign of things to come.

7) The General Assembly's Department of Legislative Services has consistently recommended GARVEE bond borrowing not be allowed to reach 20%, that borrowing against future federal transportation funds at that level is not advisable based on their research of the experience of other states.

8) The ICC GARVEE risk is compounded by the uncertainty of other proposed bonds supported by toll revenue. According to Standard & Poor, toll facilities, on average, over-estimate first year traffic volumes by at least 20%. If ICC tolls fell short, Maryland could have difficulty paying ICC debt, forcing cuts to other projects, or drawing large amounts of revenue from other toll facilities like the Bay Bridge.

9) Why are we investing so much money in a road which fails to address regional traffic congestion? According to the Maryland Department of Transportation's own study, the ICC would add more traffic to the Capital Beltway than if it were not built, and I-95 and I-270 would see absolutely no change. More than half the local roads studied either see an increase in traffic congestion, or see no change at all compared to if an ICC were not built.

10) There are better ways to spend $3 billion on transportation.