By David Cruz
Correspondent
“I need you to wrap up, sir.”
Despite starting his committee meeting over an hour behind schedule — or maybe because of it — Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Paul Sarlo sounded like a man who had to catch a plane today, pushing speakers to stay on topic and on time.
“The necessary votes are here; just please keep it short,” he said.
The committee was trying to finalize the Transportation Trust Fund and the pros and the cons were eager to have their last-minute say, including members of the airline industry, who were there to protest against a proposed 10-cent a gallon increase on jet fuel, which they say will be disastrous for their industry.
“It’s a very devastating impact. It’s not double; it’s not triple; it’s not quadruple; it’s a 25-fold increase. It is very substantial and not to be taken lightly. It’s not helpful at all to the industry; it’s not helpful to the consumer,” said Sean Williams, vice president of state and local government affairs.
Industry reps estimates that they supports 150,000 jobs in the state and spur over $20 billion in economic activity. They say the effect of a fuel tax hike will ultimately be felt by both the traveling public and the state’s tourism industry.
“Prices will go up. They’ll be paying more for that ticket to go see their family and friends out of state or on a vacation this summer. It might also affect the people trying to come in to New Jersey to use our beaches and enjoy our tourism areas,” said Susan Marshall, global services representative for United Airlines.
Besides, they insist, lawmakers can’t legally take jet fuel tax money and use it for roads and bridges. FAA rules say jet fuel tax cash has to go to aviation-related projects. Just a few years ago, the Port Authority paid a hefty fine for breaking that FAA rule. Sarlo was unimpressed.
“I understand your concerns; I respect your concerns, but we are confident that we will prevail on the FAA ruling, so we appreciate it,” he said.
Senate President Steve Sweeney said there are easy ways to get around those FAA guidelines by simply using the money for airport-related projects that are already proposed. He said it’s about time the airlines ponied up a bit.
“The point is we’re at, I think, 0.04 percent. There are states that are at 27 cents. You want to know about Newark [Airport]? They have the fourth highest fares in the nation. What I know about them is the airlines put bag fees on everyone to pay for jet fuel when it was expensive, for some reason, and a surcharge that has never come off even though fuel’s have come down. This is just a greedy industry that doesn’t want to do its part,” Sweeney said.
And with friends like that, the industry, despite its best efforts today, can expect to be paying more for its fuel and you can expect to be paying more for your next flight to grandma’s.