Crusade against MTA payroll tax rolls on

A cardboard sign summed up the feelings of those who showed upin Riverhead Friday to protest what they consider the MetropolitanTransit Authority’s unfair treatment of the East End.

It read “No Trax, No Tax in black marker and was held by LongIsland Wine Council President Chris Baiz.

Mr. Baiz was one of a dozen people who spoke at the press eventat Digger O’Dell’s on West Main Street. The speakers, mainlylawmakers and business representatives, expressed outrage thateastern Long Island governments, schools and businesses are beingasked to pay an MTA payroll tax while the transit authority isproposing to virtually eliminate LIRR service east ofRonkonkoma.

State officials say they will fight to see the tax repealed.

“We want to mobilize all of the factions that are affected bythis so we can continue to speak with one voice, said state SenatorKen LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), who organized the event.

Last month, the MTA proposed the service cuts to help it close a$400 million budget shortfall. That plan was unveiled just monthsafter the state approved a tax that forces all businesses in NewYork City and surrounding counties, including Suffolk, to pay theMTA 34 cents for every $100 it spends on payroll.

“It’s sadly ironic that this authority that has been somismanaged, so bloated, right now is asking the private sector, thebusinesses who have to struggle every single day ¦ tobail them out, said newly elected state Assemblyman Dean Murray(R-East Patchogue).

Governor David Paterson earlier this month proposed a 2010-11budget amendment that would reduce the tax for businesses outsidethe city to .17 percent, while increasing it to .54 percent for NewYork City businesses.

Those present Friday morning said Mr. Paterson’s proposal doesnot go far enough.

“This is a fight about what is wrong in government, saidAssemblyman Marc Alessi (D-Shoreham).

Renewed talk of creating a Peconic Bay Regional TransitAuthority, which local officials believe could be run cheaper andmore efficiently than the MTA, was also heard during the event.

Creating a separate authority, and no longer paying taxes to theMTA, is the only solution to providing acceptable publictransportation on the North and South forks, some lawmakersbelieve.

“We will provide the public transportation that the East Enddeserves, vowed county Legislator Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches),whose district covers the North Fork and Shelter Island. “It istime to leave the MTA well behind.

On Monday, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan defended the transitauthority, saying it is examining its cost structure and trying toshow that it uses the money it receives in taxes, fares and tollswisely.

“We expect to have more to say very soon about ways we arereducing administrative expenses, Mr. Donovan said in an email.”But unfortunately, administrative expense reductions alone willnot solve a budget gap of this magnitude, which is why we mustreduce service to all parts of the region the MTA serves.

East End officials are scheduled to meet with LIRR PresidentHelena Williams on Friday to discuss rail service to the East End.A public hearing on the proposed service cuts will also be held atthe county center in Riverside on March 8.

Earlier this month, Mr. LaValle introduced a bill in the Senatethat would put a referendum on the November ballot asking residentsof the five East End towns to consider the creation of a PeconicBay Regional Transit Authority. Mr. Alessi and Assemblyman FredThiele (I-Sag Harbor) cosponsored a similar bill in theAssembly.

The payroll tax could not have come at a worse economic time,officials agreed.

Many of Friday’s speakers echoed Mr. LaValle’s statement when hesaid the payroll tax was “a job-killing tax.

“For every 18 jobs in agriculture, we could have two morewithout this tax, Mr. Baiz said.

William Schoolman of the Hampton Luxury Liners, which providesbus service between the East End and New York City, filed a lawsuitagainst the MTA last year because he thought it unconstitutional toforce his company to pay a tax to a direct competitor. Mr.Schoolman said that unfair taxes like the payroll tax were one ofthe reasons it is so difficult for small business to survive in NewYork.

“I had to write a check to subsidize my competitor, he said.”The MTA is a bully.