BROWN: Can revised budget really keep Nassau solvent?

Will the Nassau County budget, as amended over the weekend by Republican lawmakers, be enough to slow the county's slide toward insolvency?

Can it put a stop to the prospect of a control board?

Peter Schmitt, the legislature's presiding officer, wholeheartedly believes that it will do both.

One good thing: The amended budget now includes a $60-million backup plan in case County Executive Edward Mangano's ongoing negotiations with county unions - he's told them he's prepared to "order" $60 million in concessions - prove fruitless.

"Personally, I think it strengthens the county executive's hand in the union negotiations," Schmitt said. "He won't have his back against the wall because now there's some cushion."

So far, Mangano and the unions have reached no agreement. And even if they do, there's no guarantee that the measures would be in effect as of Jan. 1, when Mangano had projected that the "ordered" savings would begin.

Another good thing: Republicans and Democrats in the legislature worked out a rare compromise on how much money the county will borrow to cover the cost of successful property tax appeals.

Mangano had wanted authority to borrow more than $300 million to cover a years-old backlog of pending settlements, a whopping sum that would sock future generations of property owners with even higher taxes become of interest payments.

Lawmakers settled instead on a comparatively meager $50-million borrowing, with the proviso that lawmakers would approve more, on a case-by-case basis, only if Mangano's administration began to successfully clear the backlog.

"It's a good compromise because now there's a process that will add some transparency and accountability on what happens with the backlog," Schmitt said.

That's true. But borrowing for property tax refunds - as opposed to, say, a bridge, which typically lasts longer than it takes to repay the debt - is what got Nassau into fiscal trouble in the first place.

Which is why, Schmitt said, the legislature - voting, as it did with almost every measure on Saturday, along strict party lines - approved a measure that would shift the cost of paying refunds from Nassau to school districts and other taxing entities.

It's a move that is certain to - as angry school officials have promised - spark a series of lawsuits. The guarantee is built into the county charter and changing the charter usually requires a referendum.

But Schmitt said he isn't worried about that, either. "We had school superintendents come and testify about how we were going to take chalk and erasers away," he said.

"They never stand up and talk about their high salaries or their perks or their cars or how many administrators they have and I'm sick of it," he said.

The budget was also amended to include assumed revenue from multimillion-dollar sales of county property, cuts to some department budget lines, securitizing future rent from leases in Mitchel Field for a fraction of the value and other measures.

And, Schmitt said, lawmakers - through extraordinary powers they assumed during the last fiscal crisis, when Democrats ran the legislature and former County Executive Thomas Gulotta, a Republican, was in charge - will push Mangano to aggressively consolidate and make other cuts, if necessary.

"I am absolutely not going to raise taxes," he said. "I'll start putting the "For Sale"signs out before I do that."

Will it be enough?

Stay tuned.