Passengers get off Metro-North train Friday at Salisbury Mills-Cornwall station

SALISBURY MILLS – The effort to repeal the state payroll tax on businesses in the MTA territory including those in the Mid-Hudson Valley is picking up momentum.

A handful of town supervisor from Orange County gathered Friday at the Salisbury Mills Metro-North train station to say the tax is a job killer and must be repealed.

Chester Town Supervisor Steven Neuhaus is spearheading the Orange county municipal effort. His town along with Deerpark, Woodbury, Monroe, Warwick, and Tuxedo have all voted to join the lawsuit. The towns of Highland, Wawayanda and Crawford are expected to approve their participation and the villages of Maybrook, Greenwood Lake and Highland Falls expected to adopt resolutions.

Putnam County has already joined and Friday, Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef said his county has filed its own suit in Rockland County Supreme Court contending the payroll tax is a violation of the state constitution.

And in Westchester County, Republican County Legislator John Testa, a former Peekskill city mayor, said he has introduced a resolution seeking to have Westchester join the lawsuit.