ALBANY – The state legislature completed action on the hotly-debated MTA bailout bill.  Some of the proposed fare hikes have been scaled back a bit, but that did not satisfy Hudson Valley State Senators – all Republicans representing a region heavily populated with commuters.  Claiming the are “being held hostage”, they blasted the Democratic majority plan to bail out the New York City MTA on the backs of their constituents.

They pointed to a payroll tax, new fees on drivers’ licenses and auto registrations, and other charges, which they said are disproportionate to the amount of use Mid-Hudson Valley people get from the Metro-North Railroad.

“We ought to be ashamed of ourselves; truly ashamed,” is how Senator William Larkin of Cornwall-on-Hudson put it during floor debate.

Senator Stephen Saland of Poughkeepsie chided the New York City Democrats.

“The sort of proverbial orphans of this system, and certainly the revenue hostages, are the so-called outer boroughs,” he said.