CALL TO ACTION: MTA TAX WOULD IMPACT SCHOOLS

Having been rejected in the state budget, legislation to bail out the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is swiftly moving through the legislature.  It calls for employers in the MTA service area (including school districts) to pay a tax on their payroll.  For schools, this means that the state would divert the use of local school property taxes to pay for a state transportation program.  To make matters worse, the tax would be retroactive to last January and schools obviously didn’t plan on this new mandated cost when finalizing their budgets.

Whether or not you live in the affected area, this bill is bad for all schools.  If the state is successful in this attempt to pay for the MTA with local taxes, what else might they decide to shift to schools?  As you read this, legislators from both parties (both upstate and downstate) are being lobbied by legislative leaders to obtain enough votes outside the New York City delegation to pass this bill.  They need to hear that despite whatever is promised in return for their support, this ill-conceived plan must be