To the editor:

Wow! It didn't take long. The ink from Raimondo's signature on the toll bill was just barely dry when the director of DOT announced the creation of 14 “overseer" positions to keep an eye on the road/bridge projects.

But it won't end there. Each one will make $100,000-plus per year. Each will need at least one assistant who will do all of the footwork. Then, a secretary for each “overseer.” After all, who will make the reservations for the daily "power lunches?”

All of these people will need an office with all of the amenities. Of course, every overseer will need a vehicle to get to the office. I figure you'll see some new personal use and owned/leased Suburbans, Escalades and maybe a new Mercedes SUV or two in the DOT parking lot subsidized in some way by the taxpayers.

No need to worry about getting reimbursed for mileage, which supposedly isn't done anymore. These overseers work for DOT, so all they need to do is pull into any DOT facility to fill the tank for the bubble on the state’s/taxpayers’ dime. Gotta have a full tank so the wife can get the kiddies to their activities. Let's not forget the yearly "fact find trips" all over the country, so they can see how other states do their repairs to roads and bridges.

Last and certainly not least is that every single position mentioned above — overseers, assistants, secretaries — will be permanent. Once you get above a certain level on the state employment totem pole and into management/administration, there is no such thing as creating a temporary position. All of this before any legal challenges.

Once you total all of this up including what will be lost from truckers completely bypassing toll gantries and eventually Rhode Island, the state may see between $30 and $35 million a year at best. Then you'll see the General Assembly work out a way to toll passenger vehicles.

Kenneth W. Grey, Jr.

80 Fales Rd.

Bristol