The Chairwoman of the Rockland County Legislature Harriet Cornell has sponsored a resolution seeking passage of bills in the state legislature to exempt public libraries form the MTA Mobility Tax.

Cornell's resolution asks the senate and assembly to pass bills that would 
amend the state tax law and exempt public libraries from the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Mobility Tax.  The mobility tax, implemented in 2009 to help bail out the debt-ridden MTA, imposed a 34% payroll tax on employers in the MTA’s 12-county service region.

In December 2011, the State Legislature passed a bill to eliminate the
tax on businesses with annual payrolls of less than $1.25 million; reduce
the tax to .11% for businesses with payrolls ranging from $1.25 million
to $1.5 million and decrease it to .23% for businesses with a payroll of more than $1.5 million.

Public and private elementary and secondary schools were previously exempted to alleviate the potential burden which taxpayers experience.  The two bills currently before both houses would include public libraries in the definition of “eligible education institutions”.

Cornell (D-West Nyack) said public libraries, like schools, are educational institutions chartered by the Board of Regents and provide resources for life-long learning to all members of the community.  

“And like our public school systems, libraries are the foundation of a democratic society and supported by state taxpayer dollars," Cornell added.  "Several of Rockland’s larger libraries do have payrolls of more than $1.5 million and will remain burdened by the mobility tax."  

Accoridng to Cornell, state aid to libraries was cut by more than 20% in recent years forcing many to spend some or all of their state aid on the payroll tax.