The MTA is essential to the Hudson Valley, specifically its commuter rail lines.
That said, it”™s curious the region keeps getting overlooked by the agency, except when it comes to dipping into our collective pockets as it did via the payroll tax as part of the MTA bailout.
You remember the bailout; it”™s wringing 34 cents out of every $100 of business payroll in the 12-county region served by the railroad, including Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange and Dutchess counties. And what is often overlooked by the mainstream media is that payroll tax includes nonprofits and the health care sector, such as hospitals.
Earlier this year, Neil Abitabilo, president of the Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association, said the impact of the MTA payroll tax on the region”™s hospitals was $6,075,000, about $3.5 million for Westchester alone.
He said the tax “makes a poor financial situation for the hospitals even worse,” in light of three cuts to Medicaid reimbursements and a punishing gross receipts tax.
Initially, Gov. David Paterson said he did not think the MTA tax on the region was the best solution. “Inevitably, the regional plan was the only answer we could come up with in order to balance the budget.”
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The architect of the bailout was Richard Ravitch. Paterson appointed him lieutenant governor only to learn by the courts that it was unconstitutional.
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And he wonders why his approval rating is so low.
Now, the Senate is about to vote on the governor”™s nominee to head up the MTA.
With his passage all but inevitable, Jay Walder, late of the London transit system, has given Hudson Valley businesses another slap in the face by not holding any public hearings here. OK, it”™s not totally his fault. Blame falls on the shoulders of the members of the Finance, Transportation and Corporations committees. The three hearings ”“ two in Harlem and one on Long Island ”“ were sponsored by Democratic state Sens. Carl Kruger and Martin M. Dilan, both of Brooklyn, and Bill Perkins of Manhattan.
Funny how no Democratic senator from the Hudson Valley voiced any indignation over the fact that this region was overlooked.
However, state Sen. Stephen Saland was angered by the slight. He happens to be a Republican from Dutchess County.
“Once again, the Senate Democrat leadership is treating the people of the Hudson Valley like the proverbial stepchild of the MTA,” Saland said in a statement.
“There is no question that any MTA suburban senator who supported the bailout betrayed their constituency. And for there not to be a hearing in the Metro-North region is basically Democrat leadership stating in a unified voice: Drop dead Hudson Valley.”
Speaking of dropping dead, perhaps the businesses who also feel outraged by this latest affront to the region will tell their respective assembly members and senators to do the same at the polls next year.
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Very retro
What”™s old is new again.
And so it apparently is with the New York Whig Party.
Yes, Whigs, as in Presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore.
A press release caught our eye last week extolling the virtues of the party.
The modern Whig Party was revived by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, the release stated, and “has quickly attracted thousands of members” in 26 states.
“This movement values common sense, rational solutions ahead of ideology and partisan bickering.”
Hmm, isn”™t that what the Democratic and Republican parties used to espouse?
