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The new $9 congestion fee is a real killer — even for the dead.
Funeral home directors in Manhattan are already considering passing on the surcharge to those burying the dead, they told The Post Monday.
Funeral homes that transport the deceased in hearses and other vehicles are not exempt and have to pay the toll if they enter Manhattan below 60th Street, just like other motorists.
It’s a sensitive issue but some directors admitted they’ll look to tack on the $9 to overall funeral costs — considering they can’t transport bodies via public transportation.
“All the costs of doing business are passed along to the consumer,” said Paul DeNigris, of Redden’s Funeral Home on West 14th Street, when asked about the toll.
Redden’s has a fleet of vehicles — hearses, limousines and other vehicles used to retrieve or bury the deceased.
“We drive all over the city,” DeNigris added.
A representative from Boe Fook Funeral Home on Canal Street agreed.
“We’ll likely pass along the cost to the customer,” said Win Lei. “It will be one price and include the congestion toll.”
She said the congestion fee likely won’t be listed as a separate line item, which would appear insensitive.
Danny Buzzetta, owner of Peter Jarema Funeral Home on East 7th Street in the East Village, was even a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit filed last year against the MTA and the feds in a failed bid to put the brakes on the toll, which was enacted Sunday.
Buzzetta said his business relies on sending his vehicles to cemeteries, crematories, hospitals and medical examiner locations outside the Central Business District toll zone.
“He needs to drive from inside the CBD zone to various locations outside the CBD zone multiple times per day. Every single cemetery and crematory is located outside the CBD zone and many hospitals and medical examiners relied upon by Mr. Buzzetta are also outside the CBD zone,” the lawsuit, filed by New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax, said.
Funeral homes can’t transport dead bodies via mass transit, the lawsuit noted.
“For obvious reasons, Mr. Buzzetta cannot use public transportation to transport deceased New York City residents. The financial burdens created by Congestion Pricing will force Mr. Buzzetta to lose his business,” the suit said.
It’s just another insult to the dead, who also have to pay inheritance tax or estate tax on assets when they depart this world — derided by critics as the “death tax.”
“As Benjamin Franklin once said, ‘Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes.’ Sadly, Kathy Hochul’s congestion pricing scam is making certain both are true at the same time. How absurd,” said Congressman Michael Lawler, a lower Hudson Valley Republican and staunch opponent of congestion pricing.
Imposing the toll on the dead is ghoulish, said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn).
“Even when you’re dead the MTA is digging into your wallet. They have no regard for anyone including families mourning their loved ones,” said toll opponent Malliotakis.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella added, “I guess we need to change the old saying to: In Manhattan, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and burial taxes “
In response, the MTA said it voted to limit exemptions on paying the congestion toll based on the recommendations from its traffic mobility review board.
