NEW YORK – As public officials and business leaders continue to keep up their call for elimination of the MTA payroll tax on Mid-Hudson Valley counties, the new executive director of the agency said the money is needed and the future of the tax, one way or the other, is not in his hands.

Joseph Lhota told MidHudsonNews.com that any decision on the future of the tax is not in his purview.

“It generates about $1.4 to $1.5 billion a year and it’s very important that we maintain that level of revenue to main our level of services,” he said. “If the [state] legislation – they set tax policy, it’s their decision, I’m not a state legislator; I cannot support it one way or the other.”

Mid-Hudson state legislators have tried for the last two years since the tax was enacted to have it repealed or scaled back, but met resistance from New York City area lawmakers.