MTA Should Be Audited

As your County Executive, I want to address an issue that has caused great concern for Rockland County residents and many others across our region—the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) congestion pricing plan. This misguided policy represents an enormous burden on hardworking Rocklanders and all New Yorkers, raising serious questions about fairness, priorities, and accountability.

Let’s start with the basics. Congestion pricing is promoted as a way to reduce traffic and fund public transit improvements. In reality, it’s a $15 daily tax on people simply trying to get to work and provide for their families. It’s even more shameful to see Governor Kathy Hochul suggest we should be thankful she’s “saving us money” by starting the new tax at $9. For Rockland residents, driving into Manhattan is not a luxury; it’s a necessity. Public transit options here remain so limited and unreliable that many of our residents have no choice but to drive.

This plan is particularly insulting given the inequities Rockland County already endures as a member of the MTA. Each year, Rockland pays over $40 million more to the MTA than we receive in return. Rockland is one of the only MTA members with a “value gap,” where the services provided fall far short of the taxes and fees paid. While Rockland has subsidized MTA services for decades, our transit needs have been severely neglected.

Since the pandemic, New York City’s population has declined by over 6%, and only 60% of the workforce is back in the office full-time. Traffic congestion is not worse than it was pre-pandemic.

Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is proposing to eliminate income taxes for low-income earners, even as these same individuals will face higher costs for goods and services in the Central Business District. How can the State and City claim to care about financial equity while imposing a regressive tax?

Before asking drivers to shoulder additional costs, the MTA must be held accountable.

The agency loses over $700 million annually to fare evasion—money that should already be funding transit improvements.

The MTA should be audited, its budget inefficiencies addressed, and it must ensure that every rider pays their fair share. Yet instead of addressing these issues, the MTA, City, and State continue to punish law-abiding citizens to compensate for their own mismanagement.

Governor Hochul’s recent announcement about reimbursing residents using excessive sales tax collections is another example of disingenuous policymaking. Acknowledging the State’s over-taxation problem is one thing, but layering congestion pricing on top of an already overwhelming tax burden is unsustainable. New Yorkers are being taxed to the brink, driving many to leave the state. This trend cannot continue.

Rockland County residents deserve better.

They deserve policies that support their efforts to earn a living, not policies that penalize them for it. We will continue to fight this ill-conceived plan through our lawsuit and additionally, we sent a letter to Governor Hochul to counter her recent comments suggesting that Hudson Valley residents, including those in Rockland, will benefit from congestion pricing. This is simply untrue for Rockland. Unlike other counties, we have seen no meaningful transit investments. The most recent MTA Capital Plan includes no improvements for Rockland other than replacing 60-year-old locomotives currently operating here and in Orange County.

I want to thank New York State Senator Bill Weber for actively advocating for a permanent repeal of the congestion pricing plan. On our behalf, he has introduced legislation for a congestion pricing toll rebate for Rockland residents, who have no viable public transit alternatives. He is also pushing to increase our annual Dutchess, Orange, and Rockland Fund (DORF) allocation for mass transit improvements from $2 million to $10 million.

Our fight is far from over.

We will continue to stand against this unfair tax and demand equitable treatment for Rockland County residents.