CHARLESTON, W.Va.--Drivers will start paying higher tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike next month of $2 for passenger vehicles and $6.75 for five-axle commercial trucks under a motion approved Wednesday by state turnpike officials.

But drivers who use West Virginia's EZ-Pass card will get a discount, bringing toll costs down to $1.30 per toll for passenger cars and $5.40 for commercial trucks, the West Virginia Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority decided.

Passenger car drivers now pay $1.25 per toll and truck drivers pay $4.25. The new rates take effect Aug. 1.

"We owe it to the people of the south," board member Bill Seaver said before voting on the discounts, which were changed from the original proposed EZ-Pass discount of $1.50 for passenger cars and $5.06 for five-axle trucks.

"After all the public comments and more serious consideration by the board they pursued some lower rates to see what they could do," the authority's general manager, Greg Barr, said of the passenger rates.

Drivers with a West Virginia EZ-Pass pay a $5 administrative fee and $10 refundable deposit for a transponder for cars, while commercial truck drivers pay a nonrefundable $25 for fees and the transponder. The program also includes a Parkways Authority Commuter pass that allows frequent travelers to pre-pay for unlimited use of the Turnpike.

The discounts approved Wednesday also would allow commercial truck drivers with a non-West Virginia EZ-Pass to get a 13 percent discount on the new tolls and pay $5.87.

West Virginia Motor Truck Association President Jan Vineyard said her organization was thrilled the authority is working to include truck drivers with other EZ-Pass programs. But she said it's disappointing the toll increases are 60 percent and will start in 30 days rather than be phased in over a longer period of time.

"So many of our contracts are done a year in advance, which makes it difficult," Vineyard said, adding that higher tolls could lead to other price increases.

"Trucks bring all of our medical supplies, they bring all of our food," Vineyard said. "Everything we have comes by truck."

Seaver, who is from Princeton, said he understands the toll increases are overwhelming and agrees they should have been done gradually, but he added that most people know something has to be done.

"We're in kind of a crisis situation here," Seaver said.

West Virginia still owes about $83.5 million in outstanding bonds for the Turnpike. Those bonds were expected to mature in 2019, upon which the Turnpike will be handed over to the state Department of Transportation and the secretary could determine if tolls still are needed.

But until then, the Turnpike's deferred maintenance needs come to about $335 million over the next 10 years, Barr said.

West Virginia's 88-mile turnpike runs from Charleston to Bluefield, through Kanawha, Fayette, Raleigh and Mercer counties. Three main toll plazas are at Chelyan, Pax and Ghent and another booth with a smaller toll is at North Beckley.

Republican lawmakers from Mercer County attended Wednesday's meeting and voiced their opposition to the toll hikes, and tolls in general.

Senate Minority Leader Don Caruth referred to the tolls as an "albatross." He said southern West Virginia counties have suffered for years and have difficulty competing with nearby Virginia and other counties in West Virginia.

"It will doom a whole generation of southeastern West Virginians," Caruth said.

Delegate John Shott compared the tolls issue to Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez leaving West Virginia University, calling it "the big lie."

"I feel the same knife in my heart," Shott said. "It's our own West Virginians sticking it to us."

Brenda Miller-Mann, who directs a retired and senior volunteer program in Mercer, Summers and Monroe counties, spoke on behalf of organizations with small budgets. Her program operates on about $63,000 a year and pays for two trips to Charleston, for tolls of $7.50 round-trip, she said.

"Now that extra money is going to cost a whole heck of a lot and hurt my program," Miller-Mann said.

"Charleston is the hub as you all know," Miller-Mann said. "You have medical facilities here that seniors and other people must utilize.

"They cannot afford to pay this."

Tolls have not increased since 1981 on the 55-year-old turnpike, and the hike would help raise $20 million a year in needed additional revenue, said Jim Pitrolo, the governor's legislative director and member of the authority board. The authority collects about $50 million in tolls each year, which is the turnpike's only revenue source.

Since that last toll increase in 1981 inflation has risen by 138 percent, authority members said.

Gov. Joe Manchin called the increase, coupled with the EZ-Pass discounts, a "compassionate and responsible approach" to dealing with the Turnpike's mounting financial issues.

"We all know that we have a critical and immediate need to maintain the

Turnpike and to find the revenue that will allow us to do that," Manchin said in a press release. "This new toll plan is a responsible decision that gives the Authority the tools they need to bring the road up to standards without overburdening the most frequent users of the highway."

Authority members discussed the new EZ-Pass discounts as a compromise.

The discounts were expected to impact revenues by about $1.41 million, but authority members approved a plan to help with the defeasance of bonds for the Tamarack arts and travel center, which would free up about $1.44 million a year.

That allowed the authority to provide for more of a discount for passenger vehicles.

But board member Vic Grigoraci, Charleston's city treasurer, questioned the move, saying the $1.44 million from the defeasance could be reserved in case of more road maintenance needs, slides or less than expected revenues.

"The proposed $20 million is the least amount we need," Grigoraci said. "We need to have some cushion."

Grigoraci said there still is much to consider before turning over the keys to the state transportation secretary in 10 years.

"We might have enormous costs to do that," Grigoraci said, including raising an estimated $7.5 million to tear down all three main turnpike tolls and determining how to handle expected layoffs of toll collectors.

"I'm really concerned about our financial future," Grigoraci said.

"What do we do? I'm not sure we can answer that today," Grigoraci said. "We have a looming liability."

For more information on West Virginia's EZ-Pass program, call 1-800-206-6222.

Contact writer Michelle Saxton at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 304-348-4843.