Mangano needs to be smart to make it work

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano stood alone Wednesday, working to explain how he intends to cut the county budget.

It's a spot he'd better get used to. Because he -- along with Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature -- will have no choice other than to lead.

Thursday, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority will deliver its verdict on Mangano's revised budget for the year.

In it, Mangano proposes layoffs and furloughs, along with the elimination of some police units and an entire precinct.

The plan includes proposed new revenue, much of which remain shaky. Will the county be able to sell 100 Quentin Roosevelt Blvd.? Will the state Legislature give Nassau permission to expand its red-light camera program?

That's yet to be determined -- yet Mangano has included that revenue in his new plan.

He's also included revenue from having the county jail house Suffolk County inmates, going so far as to note, "The county does not consider this item to be at risk."

But the item's not only at risk, it's dead -- and with it, an assumed $1.5 million in revenue -- because renovations to part of the jail do not pass state muster.

Still, Mangano is on the right track. He's identified the big-ticket item: the need to renegotiate terms of contracts with the county's labor unions.

Negotiations will be necessary if Mangano is to get many of the savings he's included in the new plan.

One problem: Mangano's on rocky ground with county labor unions, most of which are refusing to negotiate with him.

"We will negotiate only with NIFA in the room," an angry police union president James Carver repeated Wednesday, citing continuing frustration with Mangano's administration.

He said he learned of Mangano's plans for the department in Newsday. Mangano has asked that NIFA -- the Nassau Interim Finance Authority -- declare a fiscal emergency and freeze wage and longevity increases for union members.

Thursday, when NIFA meets, the county will learn the board's decision. Mangano also will learn whether his leaner financial plan passes the board's muster.

If it does, Mangano will have to find ways to go through with threatened cuts; if it doesn't, Mangano will find himself having to cut even deeper.

No one expects him to be anything but angry at having a control board nipping at his heels. But NIFA can't make policy; Mangano can.

And he must if Nassau is to muscle through 2011 and survive 2012, when the current projected gap between revenue and expenses is frightening.

The responsibility for making cuts and the criticism they are certain to engender will double back to Mangano. They will become the defining leadership actions of his administration.

It will be difficult politically, since the Republican-majority Legislature is up for election in November. Meanwhile, the county's unions -- like unions in Erie and other municipalities under a control period -- likely will sue. And Mangano, along with the lawmakers, will come under repeated, extreme pressure to save rather than kill programs.

Mangano and lawmakers of both parties have said they will not raise taxes. But here's the rub: Nobody's proposing reducing taxes either. Which makes managing through a control board even harder. Mangano and lawmakers will have to be strong enough to make cuts or find more reliable revenue, and smart enough to ensure that Nassau keeps serving residents.