When cruisers purchase their $75 or $100 seasonal pass to enjoy the New York Canal system – with its mostly free-of-charge dockage and amenities in dozens of historic towns – they are helping to pay for the management, upkeep and operation of hundreds of miles of waterways, locks, and parkland. However, the fees do not come close to covering the total costs of this historic American treasure.

Most of the canal funding currently comes from road tolls collected by the NY Thruway Authority. The trucking industry has been attempting to cut off the toll money through lawsuits. A federal judge now agrees with the truckers, ruling the practice of shifting funds unconstitutional, according to a Reuters article:

A federal judge on (August 10, 2016) said the New York State Thruway Authority's practice of diverting toll revenue it collects from commercial truckers to maintain upstate canals is unconstitutional.

Chief Judge Colleen McMahon of the federal court in Manhattan agreed with the American Trucking Associations trade group that the authority unlawfully burdens interstate commerce by contributing more than $61 million annually, or roughly 10 percent of toll revenue, to maintain the canals. (According to a Times Union report, the total budget of the canal system is about $87 million annually.)

McMahon called the canals a "jewel in the crown" for New York, which benefits from tourism revenue they generate, but said they offered no benefit to truckers.

She said this made the state's use of toll revenue from truckers to maintain the canals a violation of the so-called Dormant Commerce Clause.

Continue reading Reuters article: New York's use of tolls to maintain canals unconstitutional.

Note: The NY Canal Corporation is currently a subsidiary of the Thruway Authority, but the responsibility may be shifted to the New York Power Authority at the beginning of 2017, according to reports. Would the funding shortfall come from the state budget, increased canal use fees, or higher electric bills?