Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters at the State Fair in Syracuse that the MTA payroll tax will ultimately be upheld.

The tax, which generates $1.2 billion in revenue for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was ruled unconstitutional by a state Supreme Court judge in Nassau County late Wednesday.

It was a move that was cheered by Republican lawmakers in the Senate, some of whom won their elections two years ago thanks in part to the tax’s passage under a Democratic majority.

“There won’t be any disruption in the MTA funding,” Cuomo said. “We believe the ruling is wrong and we believe the ruling is going to be reversed.”

It’s something of different situation for the Senate GOP, which has worked well with Cuomo on a number of budgetary goals and successfully pushed for a partial repeal of the tax, a move that was a significant victory for freshman Long Island Sen. Lee Zeldin.

And Republicans are clearly happy that the tax is back in the news as they work to keep their 33-29 majority.

“Senator Skelos has always maintained that the MTA payroll tax, which was imposed by the Democrats without a single Republican vote, was an unfair and onerous tax on jobs that never should have been implemented in the first place,” said Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif. “That’s why Senator Skelos and his Republican colleagues voted to repeal the tax for most of the businesses that pay it. We welcome this ruling, and the additional relief it will bring.”

The MTA payroll tax is a major New York City suburban issue — an area that is one of the few locations in New York that has become up for grabs politically.

Cuomo at the fair was met with a contingent of anti-hydrofracking protesters, though the governor said he wasn’t fazed.

“I’ve been dealing with them since before the campaign — before I was governor,” Cuomo said. “It will be up to themselves how they conduct themselves. It’s one of the joys of the job, I guess — being joined by protesters on one issue or the other.”

Cuomo insisted that there’s “no hard timetable” for releasing the Department of Environmental Conservation’s study for high-volume hydrofracking, though reports have suggested that it would come out this summer, along with a plan to regulate the controversial natrual gas extraction process in the state’s Southern Tier.

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