Chasing toll cheats can be profitable

Tollway officials have long said the purpose of the high fines levied on toll cheats is not to make money.

But they are making money -- lots of it -- just the same.

The tollway has raked in a profit of about $56 million in the first five years of the new violation enforcement system, according to budget records.

Tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said the agency doesn't look at the high fines as a way to bring in more cash, but as a deterrent to those who want to blow off tolls.

"We prefer to see the number of violations go down," she said. "We would rather see that money coming in on the toll side than the violation side."

Regardless of intent, fines collected from toll scofflaws are the second-highest source of money for the tollway.

The tollway generates about $570 million a year in tolls and an average of $19 million a year from violation fines. The only other sources of funds for the tollway are $3 million a year from the oases and another $2 million a year from investments, records show.

Tollway officials are expecting a spike in fine funding this year as a 13-month backlog of toll violations is paid off.

For example, if all the toll violators hit with fines since August -- when the system started working again -- pay off their tab, the tollway will reap $46 million. And that is largely based on $20 fines.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

If most of those people don't pay up in the first month, then the tollway could take in more than $100 million when the fines spike to $70 per violation.

Back in 2002, then-Tollway Director Thomas Cuculich foresaw this windfall as he tried to convince the public it was a good idea to spend $38 million over three years to go after $7.5 million in missed tolls.

More Coverage Stories Lawmaker wants 'reasonable' toll enforcement [01/17/08] Toll enforcement fix will have to wait [01/15/08]Opinion: Enforcement system works in best interests of honest users [01/15/08] Toll officials draw a blank on cheats tally [01/08/08] Chasing toll cheats can be profitable [01/08/08] No tows for scofflaws [01/08/08] Editorial: Solve major problems in toll collection [01/08/08] Toll collection flaws [01/07/08] Out-of-state scofflaws catch a major break [01/07/08] Taking a heavy toll [01/06/08] Toll fine hearings rife with conflicts [01/06/08] Toll authority often willing to settle [01/06/08] Graphics To catch a thief PDFs Examples of notices sent to alleged toll scofflaws from the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and the Illinois Secretary of State's Office: Notice of toll violation Final order of liability Notice of impending suspension Suspension notice

"The point #8230; is that through the new violation enforcement system contract, we are not billing toll violators to collect the nickels, dimes and quarters they refused to drop in the toll collection baskets," he wrote in a letter published in the Daily Herald at the time. "We are billing toll violators to collect those $20 or $70 fines for each unpaid toll."

"Look at it this way," he continued. "If the Illinois tollway loses $1,000 to scofflaws at a tollbooth charging 40-cent tolls that equals 2,500 toll violations. If a $20 fine was issued and collected on each violation, the return would be $50,000."

The new violation enforcement system, implemented by Harrisburg, Pa.-based TransCore, linked images of toll violators' cars to the related license plate data so that fines could be automatically mailed.

Before that system came on board in 2003, tollway employees tried to scan the photos and search databases manually. They failed to go after thousands of toll cheats.

At that time, toll violation fines brought in a pittance. The fines and missed tolls collected in 2002 amounted to slightly more than $1 million.

But the following year, that figure skyrocketed to $48.7 million, according to tollway and auditor general financial data.

In 2004 and 2005, the fines brought in $21 million and $26 million, respectively. At the same time, the enforcement system was costing the tollway $12.7 million a year.

TransCore lowered its yearly price in 2006 to $11 million. But as the company's contract with the tollway expired, fines stopped going out because of a mix-up in passing off the system to the new contractor, Texas-based ETC.

The tollway brought in $11.7 million from toll cheats in 2006 and the state auditor blasted officials for the foul-up.

Still, the newfound profitability from chasing toll cheats has made the Illinois tollway system the envy of the nation's pay-as-you-go roads.

"Typically it is a break even proposition," said Neil Gray, government affairs director for the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association in Washington, D.C.