Lawmakers Seek Solution To 'Unfair' Video Tolling Bills
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Those toll highways, bridges and tunnels that Maryland drivers pass through can take a bigger bite out of your wallet than you would expect: drivers are paying millions of dollars in late fees for video rolls.
Driving through no-cash tolls with no E-ZPass means getting a video toll invoice in the mail with 30 days to pay. Failure to pay means a $50 fine.
Sen. Kathy Klausmeier (D-Baltimore County) said people often overlook those invoices.
"Especially this time of year you get so many advertisements, so many Christmas cards and everything else they get all mixed up," she said.
Fiscal year 2018 saw $100 million in late fees issued statewide.
That proves to Klausmeier that the system isn't working.
"It gives me heartburn," she said. "It's not fair."
Klausmeier is one of the lawmakers working to bring those fines down.
She and Montgomery County Del. Al Carr, whose district includes the Intercounty Connector, are taking up the issue in Annapolis next session.
"A lot of times people think we're there just making laws to penalize people," Klausmeier said. "This is one where we're going to un-penalize people.
She's also working with the MDTA to come up with a cost-saving solution.
