MDX Still Unable to Send Bills, Reveal Amount Owed From Botched Toll-by-Plate Program

MDX was unable to send delayed toll bills to thousands of drivers Tuesday as planned.

The Miami-Dade Expressway authority had hoped by Tuesday to send out bills to thousands of registered owners of vehicles that have been breezing through its toll plazas since October without paying because they do not have SunPass.

But, after an MDX spokesman at first refused to reveal whether the bills had been sent, the agency’s executive director confirmed to the Team 6 Investigators that the bills did not go out Tuesday, as had been hoped.

In addition, executive director Javier Rodriguez said the authority still does not know precisely how much money it is owed by the owners of vehicles who have not been billed since October 2013.

Without notifying the public, the agency suspended billing for the toll-by-plate program in October, as it tried to transition from a problem-plagued system to a new one.

But, more than six months later, the new system is not up and running to the degree that bills can be sent out and the agency can ascertain how many millions it might be owed.

For comparison, in the last fiscal year, the agency billed $7.5 million in toll-by-plate charges during a six-month period.

Rodriguez said the bills will go out this week and that he will reveal how much is owed when he is confident the agency knows the amount.

“We're not sure with the system that we have exactly what the number is,” he said.

Meanwhile, toll-by-plate users are amassing bills that the agency in March said would have to be paid within 60 days of receipt of the still-unissued bills. The agency now says it may extend that deadline by requiring only two months be paid at a time instead of three, as it previously said it had decided.

It also said it will offer discounts to users who convert to SunPass.

For more on this Team6 Investigators exclusive, see the April 1st report here.

Contact Us