Matty Moroun offers state deal on aid.

[kraig]

January 15, 2010

Ambassador Bridge owner offers state deal on aid

MDOT wants to see proof
BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Already locked in litigation, Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel [[Matty) Moroun, and the Michigan Department of Transportation have found yet another issue to disagree on.
That issue is the local match that MDOT must come up with to qualify for federal highway funds. Short of cash, MDOT estimates it will have to forgo $475 million in federal aid for roads and bridges in 2011 because it lacks about $84 million in local matching funds.
Moroun said he can help. Federal law allows MDOT to count private investment in certain projects as the 20% local match for U.S. aid. Moroun said he has invested roughly $400 million in work on his bridge since the 1990s that could qualify. If accepted by U.S. highway authorities, that could bring in about $1.6 billion in federal aid in coming years.
The private investment is known as "toll credits" because the work was done on a tolled bridge. MDOT in the past has used toll credits generated by three publicly owned bridges -- the Blue Water Bridge, the Mackinac Bridge and the International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie -- to match federal aid to pay for local bus systems and the like.
Toll credits are used widely by other states as well.
But MDOT balks at using Moroun's toll credits. For one thing, MDOT spokesman Bill Shreck said, Moroun has never presented a full accounting of his investment at the bridge -- something he would have to do for his toll credits to qualify as a match for federal aid.
"When they've offered in the past, they've never, ever submitted the forms," he said.
Another problem is that toll credits are "like Monopoly money," Shreck said. They provide a match on paper but don't provide actual cash. So if they triggered the 80% federal funding, MDOT would still be 20% short of full funding for any given project.
There are other disagreements, but the biggest divide is MDOT's support for other bridges that compete -- or would compete -- with the Ambassador Bridge. In a recent interview, Moroun cited MDOT's twinning of the Blue Water Bridge in the 1990s, and its support for the proposed Detroit River International Crossing bridge in southwest Detroit as MDOT's attempts to siphon off up to 75% of Moroun's toll revenue.
Moroun criticized MDOT's role in the DRIC project, a proposed publicly owned bridge less than two miles downstream from the Ambassador Bridge, as "absolutely a tremendous waste of money."
Moroun's position: He'll allow his toll credits to be used as a local match for federal aid only if MDOT promises not to use that money to support competing bridge projects.
"We've said we'll give those to you when you demonstrate that you're not going to use this money against us," said Mickey Blashfield, head of government relations for Moroun.
This disagreement over toll credits takes place against the backdrop of Moroun's years-long feud with MDOT over rival bridge projects. Today, attorneys for MDOT and Moroun are expected to go before Wayne County Circuit Judge Prentis Edwards for a hearing on Moroun's lawsuit that is attempting to block MDOT's participation in DRIC.
Carmine Palombo, director of transportation for the Southeast Michigan Council on Governments, said Moroun and MDOT need to call a truce.
"I have been trying to suggest that they need to sit down and talk because it's just going to escalate," Palombo said. "The state can't afford this, financially or any other which way you look at it."

[BShea]

This isn't the first time such an offer has been made:

From Feb. 1, 2009 Crain's:
Moroun offers up credits for transportation projects; no takers

By Bill Shea
It's possible the Michigan Department of Transportation could benefit from Manuel Moroun's $1 billion construction budget for the planned twin span to the Ambassador Bridge — even while it continues to plan a competitor bridge.
Moroun's construction expenditures over the years, plus toll revenue, could be used to generate up to $2 billion in credits to cover the state or local match on other federally funded transportation projects. In theory, that includes the competitor Detroit River International Crossing project, but Moroun does not have to allow that to happen.
A federal law permits states to use money raised [[or spent on infrastructure) by public or private toll authorities — including Moroun's Detroit International Bridge Co. — to act as a credit toward the required matching funds for federal transportation project funding. The downside is that the credit isn't cash, and so that leaves the project it's used for less than fully funded.
For that reason, overall, there's been little MDOT interest in the toll credits because covering the state and local share would leave a project still 20 percent short of its cost, said Bill Schreck, MDOT's communications director.
“We've never seen them being useful for large capital projects,� he said. “You use them if you don't have cash available and can build at 80 percent at cost.�
[[snip)
Moroun's offer of the money is rooted in a public-service desire, said Mickey Blashfield, the bridge company's director of governmental relations.
“We're spending the money anyways, and as long as [[the credits are) not being used to harm us, that would be a good thing,� Blashfield said. “If [[the credits) are used to meet transportation needs here in the state, it's tantamount to the same public service we provide every day operating the bridge.�
There is an exception.
MDOT has sent two letters to Moroun asking to explore the toll credit funding, but the bridge company wants guarantees the money wouldn't help competing projects.


http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...UB01/902020325

[Retroit]

Unless there is more to the federal law that was not mentioned in the article, MDOT looks real foolish and petty.

It's too bad Maroon can't work around the requirement that these funds be solicited by the state. I wonder if he could claim that since his bridge is partly outside of the state [[and country), that he should be given special "extra-state" status to receive the funds for building a new bridge. How much bridge could $1.6 build?

[ghettopalmetto]

Unless there is more to the federal law that was not mentioned in the article, MDOT looks real foolish and petty.

Yeah, it's foolish and petty for MDOT to not open the door for Maroun to start demanding concessions. It's not like those two parties are currently engaged in a lawsuit or anything.

[Retroit]

Yeah, it's foolish and petty for MDOT to not open the door for Maroun to start demanding concessions. It's not like those two parties are currently engaged in a lawsuit or anything.

Even enemies should put aside their differences if it will be mutually beneficial...not to mention beneficial for the citizens/taxpayers.

[BillyBBrew]

Nothing that Matty does is "mutually beneficial" to the community. Matty says the state is picking on him, yet the state just used MY tax dollars to build ramps for HIS bridge and he can't even keep his end of the bargain....Please..... [[Coming from a former SW Detroit resident of over 20 years)

[MichMatters]

As Schreck said in the article, there has been no formal offer to his office, and Matty has done this before. This is not even to go back over the point that these are tolls credits, which while helpful, are nowhere near what MDOT needs for its long-term funding goals and funding revamp. It's practically akin to the city trying to "fix" its budget with the one-time sell of the tunnel.

If he was really interested and serious in working with MDOT, he'd have not taken this public before he went to MDOT. This is good old-fashioned public gamesmenship. If he doesn't think everyone doesn't see how disingenuous he is, he's either really stupid or bold. As I've said before, Matty has got a lot of balls. Too bad they won't do him any good, here.

[Just Amazed]

Anything with Matty Maroun's named connected with it would be a scam, the MDOT is right on this one. Stay away from Maroun

[1KielsonDrive]

Even enemies should put aside their differences if it will be mutually beneficial...not to mention beneficial for the citizens/taxpayers.

Manny will not, has not and will never, put aside differences for anything. He's a crook - plain and simple. The only reason he's not in jail is because he's a billionaire. If an average person had half the attitude Manny has, they'd be in jail for a long time. Money talks. Especially to the courts and governing bodies [[politicians).

[7miledog]

Unless there is more to the federal law that was not mentioned in the article, MDOT looks real foolish and petty.

MDOT does not look foolish at all. All ole' Manny is offering is credits for matching funds, not actual cash. If MDOT used them, they would still need to come up with the actual cash for the matching funds; hence, they would be in the same position they are now. If Manny is such a generous guy, let him contribute some actual cash.