MTA protest planned
Pols call for repeal of payroll tax on East End and Brookhaven Town 3 comments below
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.
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3 comments found
MTA service cuts : 2/23/2010
As a student who uses LIRR service daily to commute to and from school, I am vehemently opposed to the proposed cuts. Should the MTA board rule to suspend service during the year, I would be stranded with no feasible way to get to school…which by the way is in Mineola. Not to mention the nearly 20 other students who use the line regularly.
If you think about it, what the MTA wants to do makes NO SENSE! The best way to maintain tracks is to run a train on them. The engineer can see any problems in the track area and the crossing gates, and the sheer weight of the train itself prevents the decay of the rails. If the MTA wants to save money, they should rethink their strategy…because in the long run, it will likely cost them more to maintain the Greenport line for intermittent summer use.
The official reason service is being cut is due to low ridership, which can be explained as well. On the North Fork, there are only FIVE trains a day. This service is at such odd times that it becomes impossible for anyone to use the LIRR to access the North Fork. For a North Fork resident to work a nine to five job in Manhattan, it’s easier to take the Hampton Jitney, albeit more expensive. This is because there is one train suitable for commutation in the morning, and one that returns in the evening, and both are at ungodly hours, making for a very long day. In a nutshell: if there were more service, more people would use it.
By far the most appalling aspect of these proposed cuts is the MTA’s own budget. The bureaucratic fat that has accumulated over the past ten years is staggering, the MTA should limit itself to a reasonable one department head per department, not three…and in some cases FOUR. The salaries of MTA executives are quite excessive as well, but you won’t hear about that in the news, because it is all glossed over by public relations.
In summation: the MTA should do a thorough housecleaning before it forces customers to pay the price for its ineptitude. We should not have to foot the bill for the MTA’s perpetually unbalanced budget, it is not only unfair, but criminal.
The Tax Payers and the Voters are expecting to be taxed logically: : 2/14/2010
Mr. LaValle, Mr. Thiele, and Mr. Marc Alessi
The Tax Payers and the Voters are expecting to be taxed logically:
Peconic County now!
And,
Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority Now!
The Tax Payers and the Voters are expecting to be taxed logically: : 2/14/2010
Mr. LaValle, Mr. Thiele, and Mr. Marc Alessi
The Tax Payers and the Voters are expecting to be taxed logically:
Peconic County now!
And,
Bay Regional Transportation Authority Now!
