CROSE: Mid-Bay Bridge Authority should explain tolls

Crestview resident Janice Lynn Crose says she's concerned about the Mid-Bay Bridge. "I have read the newspaper reports and still cannot figure out why principle payments were not made, while debt was substantially increased," she says. "A family couldn't run their household in this manner."

While I realize the Mid-Bay Bridge doesn't affect all of us in Crestview, it seems most of us go to Destin at one time or another and many use the bypass and bridge. 

Alas, the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority is once again raising tolls. 

I have read the newspaper reports and still can't believe how the debt ballooned the way it did.

As taxpayers, as well as users of the bridge, we deserve clear answers, not ambiguous excuses.

Blaming Regions Bank and the Florida Department of Transportation doesn't cut it. Why doesn't MBBA executive director Van Fuller have more answers?

Salaries are meant to be earned. Why, with a budget of millions, is the MBBA unaccountable to county commissioners, the taxpayers or the state?

What are other MBBA directors' salaries? I'll sign up to be a director — and you can be sure that consistent principle payments would be made.

It is time for the MBBA to open its books and be accountable for all the money it collects and spends.

In the meantime, I think many of us will space our trips across the bridge farther apart and come up with alternative places to shop and eat, further decreasing the amount of tolls collected.

My husband and I travel to Destin for the cats' veterinarian appointments, and occasionally for dinner and shopping, but when we return home, Jim inevitably takes U.S. Highway 98.

It's a circuitous route, but a pretty drive with no tolls. 

Janice Lynn Crose lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CROSE: Mid-Bay Bridge Authority should explain tolls