Riverhead will likely join other Suffolk County towns in a lawsuit against the state to challenge the constitutionality of the MTA payroll tax, according to Supervisor Sean Walter.
“Our town attorney’s office is researching it and we will probably piggyback on the Town of Brookhaven’s lawsuit,” Walter said Monday afternoon. “We believe the tax is unconstitutional because the state didn’t seek a municipal home rule message” from the towns, Walter said.
“We will probably have a resolution authorizing [the lawsuit] in either the first or second meeting in April,” he said.
The lawsuit was announced yesterday by the supervisors of Brookhaven, Southampton and Smithtown at a press conference held at the LIRR Ronkonkoma station.
County legislators Ed Romaine and Jay Schneiderman later announced that they have filed a resolution directing the county law department to study whether the county should also sue the state over ther tax.
The payroll tax was authorized by the state in May 2009 to prop up the failing Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the LIRR, Metro North, the NYC subway and bus systems, and the bus systems in Nassau and Westchester counties. It requires all businesses and municipalities to pay a tax of 34 cents for every $100 of payroll.
Riverhead paid an MTA payroll tax of $72,000 in 2009, Walter said. “This is really double taxation,” he said. “Businesses pay the tax on their own payroll and then have to pay it on the town’s payroll too.”
At the time it was passed, state officials said it was necessary to plug a $400 million budget deficit without huge fare increases to subway, bus and train riders. But the MTA’s operating deficit continued to grow and the authority in January announced plans to cut services to help close its budget gap. Among the service cuts planned was the elimination of service on the Greenport branch — the main line east of Ronkonkoma — except on summer weekends. Following protests of local officials and public hearings, the MTA trimmed back its plans. Under the revised plan adopted March 24 by the MTA board, the Greenport branch will retain its weekday service, but there will be no weekend service on the branch beginning in September. (Beginning in 2011, weekend service will be provided in July and August only.)
State Senator Ken LaValle and Assembly members Marc Alessi and Fred Thiele all voted against the tax last year.
In December, William Schoolman, the owner of Hampton Luxury Liners and Classic Coach, filed a lawsuit against the state also challenging the constitutionality of the tax, which Schoolman said requires him to subsidize his competitor, the MTA. The MTA’s rail lines serve the same communities as his buses, he said at a press conference in Riverhead last month. “It’s unfair, unjust and unconstitutional” for the state to require him to pay a tax in excess of $20,000 to help fund his competitor, Schoolman said.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.