Rockland urges a federal court to block a NYS tax on drivers entering Manhattan
NEW CITY ‒ Rockland County has asked a federal court to block a New York state income-generating plan to tax drivers for entering New York City below 60th Street in Manhattan.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday claims the highly contested congestion pricing tax is unconstitutional and discriminatory. Many people who drive into Manhattan from the Westchester and Rockland suburbs and New Jersey would have to pay the toll.
"The toll is not a valid toll because there is no rational relationship between the charge made against the driver and the service provided by the government," the Rockland lawsuit states. "The toll/tax is not legal as it treats classes of persons differently for the same activity with no rational reason in violation of the equal protection of the laws as provided for in the New York State and Federal Constitutions."
How we got here: MTA approves congestion pricing plan to charge vehicles entering Manhattan
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District on Wednesday in the name of Rockland County and County Executive Ed Day against the New York State Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. Rockland County Attorney Thomas Humbach filed the litigation. MTA spokesman said.
The MTA and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority declined to comment. MTA media liaison Joana Flores said, "We will respond to the litigation in court."
Lawsuit: Rockland goes to federal court to block tax on drivers entering Manhattan
The legal action seeks the following:
Preventing the two government authorities from charging the toll and enforcing the so-called New York Central Business District Tolling Program.
Ordering the authorities to conduct a study analyzing the impact of the program in relation to other typical tolls and fees paid by users of the region's transportation infrastructure.
Awarding Rockland reasonable attorney’s fees, costs, and disbursements of this action, as well as any further relief the court deems just and equitable.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board voted 11-1 on Wednesday to approve the congestion pricing plan. The plan charges vehicles entering Manhattan varying rates and exemptions and a $15 toll for regular passenger cars during peak hours on weekdays and weekends.
Five years ago, the state Senate and Assembly adopted the plan. Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law mandating the MTA to impose a toll to enter Manhattan's central business district — the blocks below 60th Street that aren't perimeter highways. The intent was to reduce traffic, improve air quality, and raise $1 billion a year for the MTA's public transportation capital program.
The congestion pricing program is scheduled to start in June. But the program faces the Rockland lawsuit and multiple legal actions in various courts, including a federal court challenge from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's administration.
Day has long been a critic of the state plan on behalf of suburban residents who drive into Manhattan. He has advocated revoking the tax,
“We are joining the fight against the Congestion Pricing Plan and its grossly unfair impact on Rocklanders and other west of the Hudson commuters,” Day said Wednesday in a statement.
Humbach said, “The way this is being implemented is unfair and inequitable which is what the lawsuit is about."
The complaint contends that the toll is invalid and should be enjoined because:
It violates the Equal Protection Clause of the New York State and United States Constitutions by discriminating against drivers from outside the central business district and in favor of people who garage their cars within the district. Despite individual drivers from both groups adding equally to congestion, people from outside the CBD have to pay a toll and those who garage their cars inside do not have to pay a toll unless they leave and re-enter.
The toll is an illegal tax. The MTA/TBTA, with its wide portfolio of goals, responsibilities, and powers, acts as a government in spending the revenues for the general public benefit. This is the hallmark of a tax. The Legislature did not authorize the MTA/TBTA to implement a tax, but only a toll. The New York State Constitution requires taxation authority to be expressly stated by the State Legislature, which it was not. Thus, the toll constitutes an illegal tax and the MTA/TBTA should be enjoined from implementing it.
The MTA/TBTA failed to properly analyze the possibility of a toll reduction for persons paying the GWB toll or other tolls for transportation infrastructure. This was a duty of the Traffic Mobility Review Board. The MTA/TBTA should be enjoined from charging Rockland residents the toll until this is properly studied.
Because the toll is implemented to deter people from driving it is subject to the Eighth Amendment prohibition against excessive fines. The toll constitutes an “excessive fine” because, among other reasons, it arbitrarily penalizes an otherwise legal activity, driving in midtown and lower Manhattan. Also, because it is not charged in any scale to the amount of congestion or other factors intended to be deterred by the toll, even very short drives receive the full impact of the toll.
The MTA approval of congestion pricing met with opposition from Rep. Michael Lawler, R-Rockland, state Sen. William Weber and former state Sen. Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, who lost to Weber in 2020 and is running again in November. He defeated Weber to win the two-year seat in 2018.
Lawler, a former state Assembly member, slammed the MTA for voting to approve congestion pricing charges that will cost first responders, nurses, doctors, teachers, and all workers in Manhattan’s Central Business District at least $15 a day just to get to work.
“I’ve been opposed to congestion pricing since day one, and the MTA’s decision to charge $15 just to get to work is a slap in the face to hard-working New Yorkers,” Lawler said. “Rather than cleaning up their own mess and addressing the billions in waste, fraud, and abuse within the MTA, Governor Hochul and Janno Lieber have doubled down on this cash grab which won’t fix the underlying issues at 2 Broadway.”
Former congressman Mondaire Jones also called the congestion pricing plan bad for residents. Jones, a Democrat from Spring Valley, is running against Lawler to take back the congressional seat representing Rockland.
“This congestion pricing plan would be devastating for hard-working Lower Hudson Valley residents who need to commute into the city," Jones said. "I have been clear from day one that there must be exemptions for communities, like my hometown of Rockland, without adequate public transportation infrastructure. For this reason, I oppose the congestion pricing plan as approved."
Reichlin-Melnick said the "MTA vote approving congestion pricing is another slap in the face to Rockland residents. Without exemptions for people from counties without good transit options, congestion pricing is nothing but a regressive tax that burdens middle-class and working families most."
Reichlin Melnick was not a senator for the congestion pricing vote by the Democrat-controlled Legislature. He had proposed exempting Rockland residents after he took office.
He said despite the county contributions to the transit system, "Rocklanders still don’t have consistent and viable public transit options into New York City. Until that happens, this new toll will not reduce traffic coming from Rockland, and will unfairly tax working people up to thousands of dollars per year."
Weber also has staunchly been opposed to congestion pricing. Like his predecessors, Weber has spoken about the frustration felt by Rockland residents with the MTA services, such as the absence of a direct one-seat ride into New York City. He has noted Rockland contributes an estimated $40 million annually to the MTA, but the services received fall significantly short of this value.
"I fully support Rockland County’s lawsuit to stop congestion pricing," Weber said. "Every level of government in the MTA region should be doing exactly what Rockland County just did to stop this outrage. Congestion pricing is a dumpster fire. The Senate and the Assembly should be voting to end this right now and Governor Hochul should sign it."
The Independent Drivers Guild, the nation’s largest rideshare driver advocacy organization, lobbied against the original congestion pricing plan to tax rideshare drivers directly rather than the customers.
"It made no sense to tax the for-hire drivers when it is the riders who elect to enter the congestion zone, and we are pleased that the officials listened," said Brendan Sexton, president of the Independent Drivers Guild, a Machinists Union affiliate representing and advocating for New York City's 80,000 Uber and Lyft drivers.
Sexton said the guild still has "concerns about the disparate impacts the final plan is expected to have on the rideshare industry and the livelihood of 80,000 New Yorkers.
"We will closely monitor the impacts of this new policy on working families to make sure for-hire vehicles aren’t paying more than our fair share," Sexton said. "We also continue to urge the MTA and New York leaders to fix the disparities in the toll rates between yellow cabs and rideshare."
Colleen Wilson of the Record/NorthJersey.com contributed to this report.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland lawsuit: NYS congestion pricing to enter Manhattan illegal
