Starting on September 1, Nassau County residents began shelling out even more money to be afforded the privilege of driving a car in New York State. That is when 25% fee increases passed by the majorities in the Assembly and Senate and signed into law by Governor David Paterson go into effect. As an added gift from the governor and his political allies, those who live in one of twelve Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) counties will be paying an additional $25, on top of the 25% increase, to both get a driver license and register your car.

The 25% fee increases were passed by Speaker Silver and then-Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith to pay for the largest state budget in history despite the fact that the state would have declining revenues and a poor economic outlook. Just eight months earlier, the collapse of Wall Street signaled that the national and state economies would not produce the tax revenue the state government had hoped for. As a result, the Legislature first had to trim back the 2008-09 budget before inexplicably increasing state spending in 2009-10 by over $10 billion.

I stood up, along with rank-and-file members from both parties, to speak out against this budget which did not meet the economic realities of the time or the future. Unfortunately, the leaders of both legislative chambers had the votes to pass a budget and the governor was all too willing to sign any budget which was even remotely close to being on time.

That is why all New Yorkers, starting September 1, will be paying 25% more to get a new license or to renew their registration. As usual, the governor did not stop there - he also included a 66% fee increase on license plate renewals starting in April of 2010. These fees will be paid not by New York City voters to whom the governor was pandering to, but Nassau County residents who already have been adversely affected by the economy and who also own cars which are needed to get to and from work.

To make a bad situation worse, when the bailout of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was passed in June, vehicle owners residing in MTA counties once again paid for subsidized public transportation with an additional $25 for license renewals and registration renewals. I voted against this bailout because there has not been an independent audit of the MTA in an effort to find money to cut from their budget. As I have often said before, Long Island is not an endless ATM for the MTA and, therefore, the giveaways to organizations which have no accountability to taxpayers must end.

Very soon, the New York State Legislature will have to come back into session to deal with the lack of revenues and scale back a budget which was outrageously unaffordable. I want my constituents, as well as everyone else on Long Island, to know that I, with the backing of my colleagues, will be bringing these fees into question and move for the budget to be cut in order to bring all fees and taxes in line with 2008 levels. This is the only way in which the state will continue to be solvent and accountable to you, the taxpayer.