ALBANY – The state Thruway Authority failed to improve its oversight of a $109.5 million contract to operate the EZ-Pass toll system despite a critical audit a year ago, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi said yesterday.

The Hevesi audit comes as the authority faces criticism over its proposed toll increase, the first in 17 years. The audit claims the authority fully implemented just five of 14 recommendations in the comptroller’s January 2004 audit. Among the concerns listed in yesterday’s audit are that the authority can’t adequately monitor whether the contractor is double billing, and can’t be sure overhead costs charged to the state are warranted.

Thruway spokesman Daniel Gilbert said the agency is already aggressively monitoring the contract. Errors detected by the authority have reduced the state’s cost by more than $1 million since 2000, Mr. Gilbert said.

He also said the comptroller’s insistence on certain measures – including an electronic system to track spending under the contract with ACS State and Local Solutions – would be costly and unnecessary. Mr. Gilbert said even Mr. Hevesi’s audit found no evidence of double billing. The audit is released halfway through the authority’s statewide series of hearings on a proposal to increase car tolls about 25% and most truck tolls about 35%.

Truckers and the dairy industry have so far been among the most critical of the proposal in public hearings. They say the toll increase would add to consumer prices, drive trucks to side roads, and drive businesses out of state.

“The authority seeks to double a significant portion of the transportation costs of goods, an increase which could put a severe strain on an already depressed upstate economy,” said Anthony Famiano, president of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of New York. In testimony scheduled to be delivered last night, he said Red Kap Sales Inc. of Schenectady paid $11,343 in tolls in 2004, but would pay almost $21,938 under the proposal.

Authority Executive Director Michael Fleischer said most speakers recognize the highway is safe and well maintained, but “there have been concerns expressed by commercial vehicle drivers.”

The most pointed have been by milk haulers, oil-tanker drivers, and others caught in a consolidation of truck classifications based on axle numbers and height. That inadvertently would spike their toll increase more than other truckers. “We are looking very seriously to see what we can do to mitigate those impacts,” Mr. Fleischer said.