Below are two form letters that you may utilize to express your view to New York State Senator Hannon and New York State Assemblyman McKevitt that the New York State pension system must be reformed and the MTA Tax must be repealed. Please contact John DeMaro at jdemaro@rmfpc.com if you have any questions.

November __, 2010

Hon. Tom McKevitt
NYS Assemblyman
224 Seventh St., Suite 220
Garden City, NY 11530

Dear Assemblyman McKevitt:

I join with the Eastern Property Owners’ Association and the Garden City Estates Property Owners’ Association and look to you to show meaningful leadership in Albany as you have done so effectively in the past. Your experience and leadership skills are the major reasons for which you were elected. We respectfully request that you immediately and aggressively take steps to (i) pursue changes to New York State legislation that govern mandated municipal employees’ pension contributions and (ii) repeal the MTA Payroll Tax. New York taxpayers can no longer afford to fund the current structure of the municipal pension packages, nor should they be burdened by the MTA Payroll Tax.

MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEE PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS

We need your help to reduce pension costs incurred by our Village, School District, and all local governments. The taxpayers of New York can no longer fund outrageous municipal pension packages not even dreamed of in the private sector. It is unfair for the State of New York to require local governments and school districts to compute pensions for municipal employees that are calculated on base salary plus overtime and, in many cases, additionally on accrued sick and vacation pay. Pensions should be calculated on base salaries only or in some fair manner that will not overburden our municipalities and New York State taxpayers.

Locally, the Garden City Village Trustees and the Garden City School Board Trustees have struggled to control tax increases without cutting necessary municipal and educational services. Those tax increases are due in large part to the fact that the municipalities must budget for the enormous cost of inflated and mandated pension contributions. Simply put, the pension system must be overhauled.

MTA PAYROLL TAX

The unfair MTA Payroll Tax must be repealed immediately. While more than 25 percent of LIRR administration and union workers, alone, receive basic wages plus additional pay for total wages exceeding $100,000 and spiraling upward to $200,000 and more (as published in Newsday), our local governments and school districts, private employers, churches and non-profit organizations are required to foot the bill. We are forced to subsidize all MTA salaries under the guise that the MTA needs money for operating costs or they will cut services.

While our Village and School Trustees struggle to control tax increases and desperately try to provide necessary municipal and educational services, they are forced to include the exorbitant cost of the MTA Payroll Tax in their budgets. They did not create this tax. As individual taxpayers we are personally paying this tax several times over.

Respectfully, it is time for you to take a stand on our behalf, not only for the people in your district, but all New York State residents. This is a direct request for you to introduce legislation to reform mandated pension contributions for municipal employees and to repeal the MTA Payroll Tax. Additionally, we expect you to lobbying for and be supportive of any other proposed legislative initiatives that would have the same effect. Please work with your colleagues in Albany to rectify these two critical issues.

Very truly yours,

Name: Address

__________________________________ __________________________, Garden City, NY