Regular commuters have until the end of the day Monday to register for the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority’s new toll reimbursement program.
The Cash Back Toll Dividend Program allows MDX to give some commuters a percentage of their tolls back if the organization is running a budget surplus.
“There’s definitely going to be a dividend declared,” says MDX spokesman Mario Diaz. “What we’re looking at is, and we have to finalize those numbers and the board has to finalize, but it appears that it’ll be somewhere around $3 million this year.”
To be eligible for the program, drivers must be SunPass users in good standing, spend at least $100 in tolls during a specified period and must register for the program. Existing members of the MDX Advantage Program are automatically registered. Enrollment began in July.
Mario Diaz says the final dividend will likely be announced in October or November with checks arriving mid-December. Eligible drivers would receive some percentage of their total toll spending back. That percentage would primarily be determined by the size of MDX’s surplus and the total number of eligible drivers.
“We don’t know from year to year what a dividend could be,” Diaz said. “Could be nothing at all or it could be up to 20, 25 percent or maybe even 30 percent back on what someone would spend on a yearly basis.”
One irregularity worth noting in the program’s first year: To be eligible, commuters need to have incurred $100 worth of tolls within the six-month period of January 1, 2015 through June 30, 2015. For future payouts, though, drivers will have an fiscal entire year -- from July through June -- to meet the $100 requirement.
The program applies only to toll roads overseen by MDX: the Dolphin, the Airport Expressway, the Shula, Snapper Creek and the Gratigny.
Commuters can register at MDXWay.com or by calling 786-433-4103, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
