Elected leaders, business owners and residents will gather in Riverhead on Friday to call for the elimination of the Metropolitan Transit Authority's payroll tax and to protest proposed LIRR service cuts between Ronkonkoma and Greenport. State Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) is hosting the event, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. outside Digger O'Dell's restaurant and bar in the downtown area's West Main Street.

The MTA has come under fire by East End media outlets, local officials and citizens alike for proposing to eliminate rail service to the North Fork except for summer weekends — just months after instituting mandatory payroll taxes for all businesses in New York City and surrounding counties, including Suffolk.

On Feb. 1, Governor David Paterson proposed reducing the payroll tax, which forces businesses to pay 34 cents to the MTA for every $100 spent on payroll, to 17 cents for counties outside New York City, but local officials said that plan did not go far enough.

Mr. LaValle and Assemblyman Fred Thiele (I-Sag Harbor) recently introduced legislation that would eliminate the tax in Brookhaven Town and the five East End towns. In addition, Mr. LaValle, Mr. Thiele and Assemblyman Marc Alessi (D-Wading River) have introduced legislation that would allow the public to consider creating a Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority to replace the MTA.