Rockland's feud with Hochul leaves seat on MTA board vacant for more than a year

Rockland County’s feud with Gov. Kathy Hochul over mass transit policy has left county taxpayers without a representative on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board for more than a year.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day and his preferred candidate for the seat, Neil Cosgrove, say the governor has shown disrespect for the county by not filling the vacant Rockland seat on the panel.

“We were very clear that Neil Cosgrove was an ideal pick,” said Day, a Republican. “What I’m hearing is that they are not supportive of Neil because he is too vocal. They’d rather have someone calm and quiet. He’s professional, well-known, well-respected, and a regular rider of the rails. The biggest problem is that he may say the truth.”

The governor’s office, however, says it’s obeying state law, which requires that county executives submit three nominees for a county's seat on the board. Then the governor selects one to send to the state Senate for confirmation.

The choice is up to the governor. And it appears clear that Hochul, a Buffalo Democrat, does not want Cosgrove to sit at the MTA board table.

“Governor Hochul is committed to the future of the MTA and supporting commuters in Rockland County,” said Hochul spokesman Avi Small. “State law grants the governor the power to select any of a county executive’s three nominees to the MTA board, and we will continue fully complying with the law.”

Day sees MTA not meeting Rockland's needs

The MTA has long come under fire from Day. He has criticized what he sees as under-investment by the authority in Rockland's mass-transit needs, while county consumers and employers pay millions in MTA taxes each year. The county also filed a lawsuit against the MTA over its congestion pricing plan for drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, which Hochul unexpectedly put on hold in June.

Under state law, representatives from Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester counties each have one vote on the MTA's 23-member board, while the members from Putnam, Rockland, Orange and Dutchess share a single vote.

State taxation in Rockland helps pay for the MTA through a payroll tax, portions of the state sales tax and mortgage tax, and taxes on motor fuel and franchises. Rockland motorists also pay tolls on MTA bridges and tunnels linking the suburbs to the city.

Metro-North partners with NJ Transit to operate the Pascack Valley line at Spring Valley, Nanuet and Pearl River, and the Port Jervis line, with stops in Suffern and Sloatsburg. The MTA has exempted riders on these lines for systemwide rates increases since 2017.

The MTA also partners with NY Waterway on a ferry from Haverstraw to Ossining.

MTA subsidies to Rockland, Orange and Dutchess counties for local transportation needs are expected to grow by 25% from $11.6 million in 2023 to $14.5 million in 2025.

Cosgrove anxious to serve and speak out

Cosgrove, who is active in the Ancient Order of Hibernians and was grand marshal of this year’s Rockland County St. Patrick’s Day parade, works as a software engineer for a company with offices in Manhattan. For 25 years, he has taken the NJ Transit commuter rail from Nanuet or Pearl River to Secaucus, New Jersey, where he then transfers to a train to Penn Station.

He walks 15 blocks to his office ‒ completing a commute that he says takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes on a good day.

Cosgrove, who has spoken out at MTA fare-hike hearings, said he’s not happy with the MTA’s lack of investment in Rockland. While the MTA provides subsidies for the NJ Transit trains that serve Rockland, he said he knows of no major improvements in the pipeline.

“There’s nothing in the foreseeable future,” said Cosgrove, a member of the Rockland County Planning Board. “Rockland is the elephant’s graveyard for old equipment. Rockland MTA commuters are stuck with that.”

He said it’s wrong for Hochul to withhold his nomination.

“It’s really undemocratic,” said Cosgrove.

Hochul chose a different Rockland nominee

County Executive Day submitted three names to Hochul on June 27, 2023, almost a month after the June 1 resignation of former Rockland MTA representative Frank Borelli, said Day spokeswoman Beth Cefalu.

At the time, Day stressed that Cosgrove was his top pick for the post. Unlike the Suffolk County executive, who made public his three recommendations for an open seat in 2024, Day has kept secret the other two names he submitted to Hochul.

After one of Day's nominees died in January, Hochul asked for another recommendation so she had three name from which to choose, said Cefalu. Day made the new recommendation. Hochul chose that yet-to-be-identified replacement in early May, in time for the nominee to be confirmed by the end of the 2024 legislative session.

But that didn't resolve Rockland County's lack of representation. The governor’s office could not reach Day's nominee with the good news. When aides to the governor sought help from Day’s office to contact his nominee, they were told that Cosgrove was Day’s first choice, Cefalu said.

“At that time, the CE immediately directed his staff to advise the governor's staff that he wanted his first choice —Mr. Cosgrove — reconsidered," she said. “That was in early May and there has been no response from the governor's staff since that time.”

Day said the county's relationship with Hochul has deteriorated to the point that he can’t get a callback from Brandon Lloyd, the governor’s regional representative in the Lower Hudson Valley.

What rankles Cosgrove and Day was state Senate confirmation in March of three new MTA board members and two holdovers from New York City. But Day's preferred candidate was not forwarded to the state Senate.

“They are looking to avoid us,” said Day. ”Neil speaks his mind and they don’t want to hear it.”

Cosgrove said the county’s lack of representation troubles him, noting that New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ recommendations sailed through the state Senate in March.

“The mayor proposed names in March, they were selected, and put on the board,” said Cosgrove. “Meanwhile, Rockland hears nothing. That’s typical of the MTA’s attitude toward Rockland County.”

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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.