Upstate towns join Nassau in battling MTA payroll tax

Nassau County has some allies in its legal battle against the controversial MTA payroll tax: several New York municipalities more than 100 miles away.

Three separate towns in Orange County voted Monday to join Nassau in the lawsuit it filed last week against New York State and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The suit seeks to have the state's MTA payroll mobility tax overturned as unconstitutional. Monroe, Chester and Deerpark intend to add their names as plaintiffs in Nassau's suit.

The suit was filed after the MTA announced it plans to pull funding from the county-owned Long Island Bus. Nassau officials said they have heard from several other upstate municipalities interested in joining its suit.

Tuesday, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said the fact that other municipalities had indicated their intent to join Nassau "should serve as notice to the MTA that the people will not pay for services they will not receive."

Chester Town Supervisor Steve Neuhaus said the anti-MTA payroll tax sentiment was "starting to spread like wildfire here."

"[The tax] is completely unfair and has had just a devastating effect on our economic development," Neuhaus said.

The tax is a state government-imposed move to fund the beleaguered MTA, which it was forced to bail out to the tune of $2.9 billion last year. It charges employers in the 12 New York counties served by the MTA 34 cents for every $100 of their payroll.

Yesterday, spokesmen for Gov. David A. Paterson and the MTA both declined to comment about the towns' moves. MTA officials have said they support the tax and desperately need the revenue it brings, which they project at around $1.2 billion this year.

Opponents of the tax say it unfairly requires suburban businesses to subsidize a New York City-centric public transportation system.

Neuhaus noted less than 3 percent of Orange County's residents commute using the MTA, and there are no MTA services in his town. Orange only has one quarter of one vote on the MTA board.

"This is taxation without representation," said Deerpark Town Supervisor Karl Brabenec.