Assemblyman Matt Slater (R,C-Yorktown) joined Congressman Mike Lawler, Assemblyman John McGowan (R,C-Rockland) and local elected officials for a press conference on Friday to explain their opposition to Gov. Hochul’s proposed MTA payroll tax increase and her ‘New York Housing Compact.’ The governor continues to claim that her record-setting $227 billion budget proposal does not raise taxes, a claim easily refuted by Slater during the press conference.

“New York is in the midst of an affordability crisis, a crisis that this governor callously overlooks,” said Slater. “Gov. Hochul continues to be tax-happy with her proposed increase in the MTA payroll tax. To be clear, an added tax on jobs does not create jobs. The MTA continues to be wildly mismanaged by its leadership and Hudson Valley families should not be on the hook to make up for their financial incompetence.”

Slater is calling on residents to sign a petition in opposition to this tax. The petition can be found here: www.stophochultaxhike.com.

Slater, Lawler and McGowan also expanded on the negative effects of Gov. Hochul’s New York Housing Compact that plans to add 800,000 housing units to the state over the next 10 years. This plan comes as New York has the highest rate of exodus by residents of any state in the nation.

“The governor and I can agree that there is a housing crisis in New York, fueled by affordability issues. With this said, her plan is misguided and fails to get at the root causes why people can’t afford to live in our state, like record inflation, the highest tax burden in the country and crushing regulations on small businesses, just to name a few.

“In the governor’s State of the State she said her plan would go forth even if it goes against local zoning board decisions and laws. Local home-rule is the law of the land and no bureaucrat the governor sends in to carry out her housing plan will be more knowledgeable than the community members tasked with running their local zoning, we want local control, not Hochul control,” concluded Slater.

“New York state continues to lead the nation in outmigration, and it has nothing to do with the weather. It’s because of proposals like these - a state mandate on housing with limited investment in infrastructure, a takeover of local control of zoning and a tax increase on small businesses already struggling to get by," said Lawler.

“Threatening to remove a municipality’s control of local zoning if they don’t meet housing goals while not providing the adequate resources necessary for said municipalities to improve their infrastructure to support the additional population is oxymoronic,” Lawler continued. “It’s a direct assault on towns like Mount Pleasant, Yorktown, Carmel, Clarkstown and others all across the 17th District, and we won’t tolerate it.”

“New Yorkers can’t afford the cost of living anymore, they are fleeing this state for lower-taxed areas with better job opportunities. Gov. Hochul’s housing plan only creates more frustration for local communities and completely overrides local zoning, taking away their input and expertise. Hochul’s plan will flood small neighborhoods with dozens of new residents, meanwhile, the infrastructure surrounding the areas cannot handle the sudden increase in housing. I applaud my colleagues for pushing back against Hochul’s plan and we will continue to do so throughout the session,” said McGowan.

“This governor’s housing legislation that she is trying pass through is a one-size fits all. We can’t do it this way, it’s impossible,” said North Castle Supervisor Mike Schirollo.

“Being a leader means listening to all municipalities about their concerns and not forcing one's agenda in a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Somers Supervisor Rob Scorrano.

"Gov. Hochul’s actions can only be described as overburdening and overreaching.The budget is the largest in history and places an incredible amount of burden on our businesses and citizens who are already immensely overburdened simply because they chose to live and/or operate in New York. Gov. Hochul’s ADU initiative is overreaching and attempts to mandate decisions that local officials and agencies are more than capable of making on their own and have been doing so for years. Gov. Hochul should stay out of our towns and out of our business." Sergio Esposito, Councilman Town of Yorktown. 

“As a small business owner and a town official, I feel an immense pressure on both of these issues. For the MTA tax increase, I wonder why I need to struggle to keep my business open and running on a set budget while the MTA can mismanage billions of dollars and then lean on my business, putting it in jeopardy of staying open, to keep them afloat without any repercussions. It is like the locust picking clean the fields before moving on to the next victims. As for the arbitrary housing increases without the need for environmental impact studies, along with the increase of 50 units per acre of land, it prevents me from serving my constituents that elected me to represent them. We should be practicing government of the people, by the people, for the people rather than this mandated rule of the governor."Ed Lachterman, Councilman Town of Yorktown.