Dulles Toll Road Users Claim Taxation Without Representation in Federal Lawsuit

Two Northern Virginia activists have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority charging taxation without representation for increasing tolls to pay for Metrorail to Dulles Airport.

Robert Cynkar, Christopher Kachouroff and Patrick McSweeney represent toll-road users John Corr of Great Falls and John Grigsby of Hillsboro, in Loudoun County.

Before MWAA took control of the Dulles Toll Road in 2008, Northern Virginia voters turned down a referendum to create a special tax to raise $350 million a year to pay for extending Metrorail to Dulles Airport.

The lawsuit states that the trouble started three years after voters turned down the referendum. In 2005, the Commonwealth Transportation Board increased tolls to an amount that Corr and Grigsby believe was far more than what was needed to operate, improve and maintain the 16-mile Dulles Toll Road. By using revenue from increased tolls to pay for the Metro project, the CTB has turned a legitimate user fee into a tax, the lawsuit charges.

The lawsuit states that the CTB is not an elected government, and therefore it cannot impose a tax. The plaintiffs argue that toll revenues can only be used for the Dulles Toll Road.

The lawsuit also paints a grim picture of never-ending toll increases to come up with billions of dollars needed for the Metro project.

“People who may never use the new Metrorail line are paying for that project under the guise of a toll for a public facility they are using,” the lawsuit states. “Even worse, there is a serious possibility that toll revenues will decline as drivers choose other, less convenient or efficient routes in the face of rising tolls. If this happens, the money to maintain the Dulles Toll Road would be in jeopardy as Metrorail costs escalate unabated.”

MWAA has suggested that if toll revenues decline, additional toll increases might be necessary.

 MWAA raised tolls in 2008, and then it imposed three years of increases in 2010, 2011 and 2012. From 1984 to 2005, the Dulles Toll Road cost 50 cents at the main plaza and 25 cents at the ramps (35 cents for Sully and Greenway ramps). Today, the main plaza toll is $1.25 and the ramps are 75 cents. In 2012, the main plaza toll will be $1.50.

The lawsuit asks the court to disallow MWAA from setting tolls at levels different from those in place in 2005 and to return to motorists all of the revenue it has gained from the increases to the tolls.

The MWAA has been a magnet for lawsuits lately, but so far none has been successful. In August 2009, the Dulles Corridor Users Group filed a lawsuit in federal court charging that the Dulles Toll Road tolls are being used for the Metrorail project instead of improving the roadway. The DCUG lawsuit also argued that the tolls were a tax, and only elected governments can impose taxes.

The tolls still went up and will rise again on Jan. 1, 2012.