AUBURN — The Twin Cities need more time to come up with alternatives to the toll hike proposal, councilors said Monday night.

The Auburn City Council approved a resolution Monday night asking the Turnpike Authority’s Board of Directors to wait before adopting a new toll structure. The Lewiston City Council is scheduled to adopt the identical resolution at its meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

“What we understand is that the board is not wasting any time making their decision,” Mayor Jonathan LaBonte said.

But authority member Bob Stone, an Auburn resident, said the board is not scheduled to make a decision this week. Stone said the authority’s board is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Thursday to discuss the toll increase. A vote will come at a later date, he said.

“We haven’t even talked about it as a board,” Stone said. “We will make a decision with deliberative speed, but we are in discussion mode at this point.”

The authority estimates the proposed toll hike will bring in about $26.5 million per year in new revenue.

The Turnpike Authority’s current favorite proposal calls for toll increases for the highway’s main barrier tolls and a restructuring of rates for E-ZPass holders and commuter discount programs. Cash tolls would go from from $1.75 to $2.50 at New Gloucester, from $1.25 to $2 at West Gardiner and $2 to $3 at York. Tolls for commercial trucks would increase as well.

Local officials and residents say that increase would hit Lewiston-Auburn residents working in Portland especially hard.

An alternative favored by Stone would increase tolls for people getting on and off the turnpike from the free Interstate 295.

Three turnpike exits — one just north of West Gardiner, one at the I-95 to I-295 spur in Falmouth and one in Portland — currently allow drivers to access the toll-free I-295 after paying a $1 toll to leave the turnpike. Drivers on I-295 must also pay a $1 toll at those three locations to get on the turnpike.

Stone said he also favors raising tolls at Scarborough, the Maine Mall, Falmouth and Gardner’s exits to $2 each. That would make them match a proposed increase to $2 at New Gloucester, under Stone’s plan.

LaBonte said officials from Lewiston and Auburn have come up with their own toll structures, and they are currently being tested by the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments. The authority needs to take more time to test all the potential options.

“Even if they don’t make a decision on Thursday, we don’t have a time frame for how quickly they will decide,” LaBonte said.

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