Crazy Train

The controversial payroll tax that requires counties, towns and businesses to partially subsidize the struggling Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is once again under attack.

Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski (D-New City) last month introduced a bill that would allow Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess and Orange Counties to opt out of paying the tax, which amounts to 34 cents for every $100 of payroll.

"Given the tremendous fiscal burden placed on these four counties to support a transit system that is not used by the vast majority of their residents, it is imperative these these counties have a mechanism to be released from the transportation district which has long held them fiscal hostage," reads a memo accompanying Zebrowski's bill.

The four counties are often referred to as "quarter-pounders" because they collectively hold just one seat on the 12-member MTA Board.

Rockland and Putnam, along with Westchester and Nassau, have entered into lawsuits that claim the tax is unconstitutional.

The bill would require that a county that wishes to opt out of the tax pass a resolution and draw up a "public transportation plan" that would include leasing MTA services and facilities. If the county and the MTA failed to come to an agreement, the matter would be bumped into court.

The issue may be most acute in Rockland. A 2005 MTA report showed a $40 million gap between the amount of money paid to the agency by the county and the value of the services received by residents. Ron Levine, a spokesman for County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, said the tax was even more onerous on business owners than local governments.

"Our businesses are getting hurt by this tax, and these are not the times that businesses can afford to pay more taxes, especially when their employees are not even utilizing these services," Levine said.

The county's share of the tax was $630,000 in 2010.

Putnam County shelled out about $147,000, according to County Finance Commissioner William Carlin, who added that the county paid out more than $1 million to the MTA when costs such as station maintenance are added in.

"These costs also hit the property taxpayer who is not a commuter, so you're spreading the cost to people who don't incur the service," Carlin said.

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said the agency would not comment on the bill or the lawsuits. There is no bill in the Senate that matches Zebrowski's proposal, but the measure could have a powerful ally in freshman Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who recently criticized the tax.

"It is a very onerous tax, [and] not just in this area," Cuomo said while visiting Marist College in Poughkeepsie Jan. 20.

"I've said from the beginning I understand the need to finance the [MTA] system; if we can find a better way to do it, I'm open."

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Here's a look at what our local lawmakers were up to between Jan. 28 and Feb. 4:

Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D-Greenburgh) did not introduce any bills.
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Assemblyman Bob Castelli (R-Goldens Bridge) introduced one bill. The proposal would provide a retirement benefit, equal to 75 percent of final average salary, to state and local government employees who are veterans and were injured in combat. The proposal, which is already policy for police officer and firefighters who are injured on the job, would be retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001. According to a memo accompanying the bill, the cost of the benefit for public employers would be "negligible."
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Assemblywoman Sandra Galef (D-Ossining) introduced one bill, which would require drivers with learner's permits to display signs on their cars or motorcycles indicating that they are new drivers.
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Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee (D-Suffern) introduced one bill. The proposal would change state law to presume that police officers, firefighters and court officers suffering from heart disease incurred such disease as a result of performance of their duties. Currently, the burden of proof lies with the employees; in order to qualify for disability, a cop or firefighter must show that heart disease was a direct result of his or her work.
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Assemblyman Steve Katz (R-Yorktown) did not introduce any bills.
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Assemblyman George Latimer (D-Rye) introduced four bills, including proposals that would prohibit the state from purchasing non-recyclable paper products and ban "push polls" - telephone polls that often provide misleading information about candidates - unless the candidate on whose behalf the call is made is identified at the beginning of the call.
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Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) did not introduce any bills.
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Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski (D-New City) did not introduce any bills.
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Sen. David Carlucci (D-Clarkstown) did not introduce any bills. Carlucci co-sponsored a bill, which passed the Senate on Jan. 31, that would cap annual increases on local property taxes at 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

Carlucci will host the grand opening ceremony of his district office at 95 South Middletown Road in Nanuet on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 6 p.m.
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Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) introduced 17 bills including the Reproductive Health Act, which prohibits the state from denying access to contraception and explicitly protects a woman's right to have an abortion during the first six months of pregnancy. 

Other proposals would require landlords to provide tenants with a document outlining the rights and responsiblities of tenants and landlords and create a state historic preservation fund. The fund would be used to protect and restore historic buildings.

The senator also introduced bills that would require school districts to draw up plans to ensure the safety of students and faculty on days when the temperature reaches 90 degrees or higher, and allow the town of Greenburgh to impose a 3 percent hotel occupancy tax.
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According to the websites of Sens. Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Port Chester) and Greg Ball (R-Patterson), the senators did not introduce any legislation last week. Their offices did not return requests for more information.

The latest edition of Ball's "Legislative Report" video series features a discussion with the Rev. Adolphus Lacey of the Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Peekskill about economic development and how to foster a better environment for small businesses.