Senators' bluster doesn't pass muster
Sens. Lee Zeldin, left, and Carl Marcellino at a hearing on MTA operations on May 5 in Old Westbury. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Having run, and quite possibly won, on promises to vehemently oppose the Metropolitan Transportation Authority payroll tax last year, Republican state Sens. Carl Marcellino of Syosset, Lee Zeldin of Shirley and Jack Martins of Mineola performed the political version of keeping a promise this week: They blustered at a hearing.
They demanded the tax go away and hectored MTA Chairman Jay Walder to find a way to do without the $1.4 billion it provides annually. The fact that all three voted for a budget last month that included the revenue from the payroll tax was not highlighted, nor did the senators provide ideas on how to replace the revenue.
We're not arguing that the payroll tax is a fair, sensible way to fund the MTA. It isn't. We're not arguing that the MTA isn't plagued by excessive overtime, inefficiency, bureaucracy and an antiquated and unworkable pension-disability setup. It is.
But providing for the mass transit needs of the region always presents a sizable challenge. Funding current operations while finding another $10 billion to pay for the next three years of the MTA's capital plan, which includes East Side Access for the Long Island Rail Road, rises to the level of a Herculean task.
It will take thoughtful, even brilliant, maneuvering by the politicians, and a doubled and redoubled devotion to running better and more efficiently from the MTA, to make it all come together -- not the type of hearing held Thursday.
