GOLDEN GATE, Fla. - The state says the tolls on Alligator Alley will likely go up, whether they decide to lease it or not, but that's not changing the opinions of Alley lease opponents.

On Wednesday, Alligator Alley lease opponents brought signs even an inflatable gator to Golden Gate to get their message across - the Alley's not for sale.

"They need to raise money. Everybody's in an economic straight right now, but I think there's better ways of doing it, than giving away our property," Barbara Damon says.

This is the first time she and her husband have joined the Alley protest. Ernie Damon's most concerned about the tolls.

"Next thing you know 951 will have a toll on it, then 41 will have a toll on it," Ernie Damon says.

Its the tolls that were the subject of Wednesday's public hearing. State transportation officials say within the next two years, the price the cost of crossing the Alley will go up 50 percent, from $2.50 to $3.75 per car. Every year beginning in 2011, that number will go up at least three percent more. Opponents say that's too much, but the state says its reasonable, given the fact that the Alley is one of the lowest toll rates per mile in the United States.

"If you combine the increase two to three dollars with the increase to inflation, I think its about 2054 is the year it would reach ten dollars, so that's quite a ways into the future," Florida DOT District Secretary Stan Cann says.

The state is still in the process of collecting proposals for the Alley lease. On Wednesday, they extended the due date until January 9th.

A public hearing specifically on the Alley lease is scheduled for December 2nd at the Naples Hilton.