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Follow TURFMany toll violations billed in error
Many toll violations are being billed in error, like Mr. Brooks below who has a current TollTag that's being paid right out of his bank account, and yet due to the driver of a motorcycle he sold more than a year ago, he's being taken to the cleaners and being personally, very publicly shamed for something he didn't even do. This is what the power of electronic government monitoring of our private lives reaps and it's what the power of taxation in the hands of an unelected body can do to you - not only financially ruin you, but can also can block your car registration.
Man shocked to find name on list of top toll violators
16 drivers owe more than $100,000 state said
By Kevin Schwaller
KXAN.com
October 18, 2013
AUSTIN (KXAN) - The names of the top 25 violators of toll roads operated by the Texas Department of Transportation were released Thursday by the state agency, and 16 of them owe more than $100,000.
And all 25 are from the Austin area.
The top delinquent drivers had 14,358 unpaid transactions that totaled $236,026.32. Number 2 had more than 10,000 unpaid transactions totaling more than $127,600.
Roger Brooks, of Round Rock, is on that list.
Brooks tells KXAN News, he hasn't been neglecting his tolls. Brooks showed us his TxTag and says it is set up to auto-withdrawal from his bank account.
"So I go online, I take a look. Sure enough my name is on that list," said Brooks. "Apparently it's tied to a motorcycle I sold a year ago."
TxDOT lists Brooks as having 4,462 unpaid transactions totaling $111,596.74.
"Surprising how it can stack up so quickly," said Brooks. "And I sold the motorcycle about a year ago. So, I don't know how somebody can just go on the toll all day everyday."
TxDOT confirms it would be possible for someone else to rack up those fees if a TxTag wasn't deactivated or the proper license plate changes were not made through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
"The day started with a phone call from a neighbor who said 'hey, you can't be driving my daughter around because you're going to go to jail for not paying your toll tags,'" said Brooks. "To come up in this surprising situation is kind of hard to swallow because it's a personal situation."
Brooks says he called TxDOT and has set up an appointment to meet about his case.
KXAN News also went to an address listed online for Amee Geren, who is shown as owing $145,341.08.
However, Geren didn't live in the home.
"Not sure that this is the best way to go about trying to punish people or getting people to pay their bills," said Allisa Latham, who lived at an address listed for one of the violators. "I haven't heard them do this with anything else before."
“Effectively, these people have been stealing form the state and fellow citizens of Texas," TxDOT spokeswoman Veronica Beyer said. "It’s not fair that people have been driving around not paying their tolls to the thousands of other people who have been doing the right thing and paying their tolls.”
A new state law gives the TxDOT the authority to report the names of toll violators in an effort to collect more than $27 million in unpaid tolls owed across the state.
"The tolls collected will be used to pay debt and fund operations of state-maintained toll roads," the TXDOT website says..
In addition to publishing the list of top violators, TxDOT also has the authority to:
• Ban vehicles from using TxDOT toll roads with Texas Transportation Commission approval. If stopped by law enforcement, vehicles in violation of the ban can be ticketed and impounded.
• Report the habitual violators to county tax assessor-collectors to potentially block the renewal of the vehicle’s registration.
• Motorists with unpaid toll violations should immediately contact the TxTag Customer Service Center at (888) 468-9824 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays. A negotiated settlement amount may be offered as well as a payment plan, if needed.
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TxDOT operates several toll roads in the Austin area, Laredo and one in Houston. Regional authorities operate the other toll roads.
Beyer said the agency is willing to negotiate payments and and establish payment plans for drivers who owe. The main focus is just getting the offenders to step forward, she said. The department has been receiving calls all day since the list went up, but Beyer said she didn’t know if it was anyone owning up to the fines. The main goal is to get people calling in; they’ll negotiate with people from there.