From AM-NY:Transit officials and advocates on Thursday blasted a state judge's ruling that an MTA tax is unconstitutional, saying it could lead to "devastating" service cuts and "radical" fare hikes if it is not reversed.
MTA chief Joe Lhota called Judge R. Bruce Cozzens Jr.'s decision to strike down a payroll tax "flawed," saying he expected it to be overturned on appeal. But he warned that if the state's appeals court upheld the ruling, it could lead to an annual $1.8 billion hole -- a 15% reduction -- in the fiscally challenged agency's budget, requiring service cuts and larger than anticipated hikes.
On Wednesday, Cozzens said the Payroll Mobility Tax, which charges employers 34 cents for every $100 of payroll, was unconstitutional because it "does not serve a substantial state interest." He said state legislators should have gotten the OK of local municipalities to pass the law, or get two-thirds approval, which didn't happen.
On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, "we believe the ruling is wrong and we believe the ruling is going to be reversed."
The decision was received warmly by businesses in counties, towns and villages in suburbs outside of New York City, which had argued that they did not directly benefit from MTA services.
12 comments:
Anything to f--k us new Yorkers!
Business wins, public loses.
Maybe that judge needs to be hanged from a strap,
or beaten soundly with one!
Get rid of the MTA, with its bloated budget.
This was foreseeable but the legislature was counting on the courts to be gutless, and now the legislature has to do it again with a "home rule" measure which they should have done in the first place.
Edward Mangano and Bruce Cozzens have done the right thing.
Anon No. 4:
What do you replace it with?
Get rid of the MTA. Privitize it and hire Disney to run it. They know how to transport people and never operate at a loss. Fire the MTA board and sell all their valuable artwork and their expensive offices and furniture. Disney can get the job done. Time to weed out waste and inefficiency.
Anon No. 7:
First of all, Disney wouldn't do it. Public transit is not a profit-making venture, no matter what (or who) they get rid of. Secondly, would they provide more or less service than what the MTA provides now? What would happen if they provided less?
if the unemployment stats get any worse in nyc ,the MTA will have to downsize soon.no jobs ...no bus and subway customers left.
No private operator is going to take over anything with the kinds of contracts and pension liabilities that the MTA has.
Triboro Coach went out of business because it could not profitably operate with employees who were asking for the same benefits as the MTA employees.
Triboro Coach went out of business because the MTA took over all private bus lines in 2003.
And because the city was tired of subsidizing the private lines and guaranteeing them profits.
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