In parts of the Hudson Valley and Long Island, opposition to a payroll tax passed as part of a larger MTA funding package has been vocal since summer, spurring new MTA chairman Jay Walder to meet with Hudson Valley officials and organizations.

He did so again last Tuesday, speaking at three forums organized by business groups in Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, and Rockland Counties. Walder spent much of the meetings discussing the need for increased transparency at the MTA and addressing local issues like a a plan for transit-oriented development at the Beacon train station. But first he was repeatedly challenged to defend the payroll tax.

Walder noted that the tax was a part of a larger funding package that included a NYC-specific taxi surcharge, and increased vehicle registration fees, and said the tax was an “appropriate” means to fund the MTA.  Walder repeatedly said that the composition of the funding package was ultimately a political decision made by elected officials. This didn’t satisfy attendees, but it’s not surprising that the governor-appointed chair of a cash-poor agency avoided challenging the way in which the governor and State Legislature chose to fund his agency.

The MTA chair also cited practical problems with a proposal to cancel the payroll tax in four Hudson Valley counties and make up the difference with a 13% Metro-North fare increase in those counties (on top of the 10% fare increase this summer and a planned hike in 2011) and in Connecticut. Namely, the funding agreement between the MTA and Connecticut is enacted through a multi-year arbitration process and reopening it would mean years of negotiation. (Video from the first Tuesday meeting is available from the Poughkeepsie Journal.)

Suburban stakeholders in both the Hudson Valley and on Long Island should keep three facts in mind when thinking about the MTA funding package.

The transit funding package was preferable to the alternative. The MTA is critical to the economic viability of the entire metropolitan area. The service cuts and disinvestment that would have resulted had a funding package not been passed would have had catastrophic effects throughout the MTA region and beyond.

A regional tax is a logical source of transit funds. Transit benefits many people, not just transit riders. As Tri-State wrote in a letter to the Journal News, Metro-North reduces traffic, increases property values, attracts economic development, and supports tourism. These are regional benefits, so a regional tax to fund transit operations makes sense. The payroll tax also helps fund the first two years of the MTA’s capital program, which includes job-creating projects in the Hudson Valley such as:

• Track, bridge, and viaduct repair in Orange and Rockland Counties,
• A larger train yard for Metro-North’s Port Jervis Line that will support more frequent service with longer trains,
• Rehabilitation of Poughkeepsie’s historic rail station and several Harlem Line stations,
• Transit-oriented development or parking upgrades around Beacon and potentially Southeast and Poughkeepsie.

The payroll tax was, indeed, a political decision. The business leaders who questioned Walder asked about alternatives like NYC congestion pricing and East River bridge tolls, which are both sensible sources of transit funding. But state legislators didn’t vote on congestion pricing and dropped bridge tolls from the original MTA funding plan. If suburban interests want to change the balance of MTA funding, they’ll ultimately have to convince legislative leaders. It could be an easier political lift to ask for more benefits in return. For example, absorbing Nassau’s LI Bus and Westchester’s Bee-Line into a regional bus system could lower local taxes; the MTA could also contribute to local transit systems in the Hudson Valley and Suffolk County.

MTA To Launch New Website, Create Clearer Budget Documents

On Tuesday Walder repeated an earlier pledge to make the MTA a more transparent and accountable organization, and made some specific promises on this front. First, he promised that by the release of the preliminary 2011 budget in July, the agency will have overhauled the way it presents financial data to the public. Second, he said the MTA would roll out a new website in the coming months. At a State Senate hearing on Thursday, MTA staff previewed an “online dashboard” that will present the agency’s 2010-14 capital program in a more understandable, interactive way.