Mangano speech: Optimistic, unrealistic?

Nassau County's under a financial control board.

But it's all good, according to County Executive Edward Mangano's optimistic state of the county address Monday night.

So good that -- in what's got to be a first -- Nassau served popcorn and candy to those who attended the speech.

An official said the county didn't pay for the goodies, and that anyone who wanted treats would be asked to contribute to a local not-for-profit group.

"We are back," Mangano declared, four sentences after acknowledging that the county is "in a state of repair."

State of repair? Hardly.

There are still tough decisions to be made.

According to Mangano, he's had success with county unions. And he's ready to force them into making more concessions if they won't work with him.

But county union officials say they'll work with the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, not with Mangano.

Mangano said he's cutting positions. But he didn't specify what positions or what services residents should no longer expect.

He recently fired off a series of certified letters to some nonunion employees telling them their services were no longer needed. He fired off almost the same letter to youth service agencies, saying that Nassau had eliminated promised funding from the budget.

Some agencies lost 5 percent of their budget, two agencies -- both in heavily Democratic districts -- lost 100 percent.

Mangano would pull back a few days later, telling at least one agency executive director that he would honor part of a contract.

The rest of the money would come only if the not-for-profit agencies lobbied Albany for more red-light cameras, the revenue from which would help Nassau fill a budget hole.

Mangano said Nassau finished 2010 with a surplus. He never said most of that was money freed up in the budget only after Nassau borrowed money to cover some expenses.

Mangano, amazingly, never mentioned that Nassau was under a fiscal control board. He preferred to concentrate on lighter fare, such as KC and the Sunshine Band playing at a county park and scenes from the "Gossip Girl" TV show being shot in Nassau.

He also didn't -- to his credit -- repeat earlier assertions that his 2011 budget was balanced. That fiction held long enough to see the county through a failed court battle to keep NIFA out of its affairs.

Mangano continues to blame the county's fiscal problems on somebody else, as if he were not in the legislature that passed expensive deferred payments for some unions.

He continues to insist that the county's assessment system is on the mend, although there's yet to be evidence enough to support that assertion.

He said he would like to see a minor league baseball team come to Nassau, and that he supports development in the county's central commercial real estate district.

He doesn't say where the money will come from, which is a major question since NIFA would have to approve contracts for either venture.

From his speech, Mangano would like to have residents believe that the roughest patches are over. In fact, they've just begun.

In the months -- years? -- to come, it should be a collaborative effort between Mangano and NIFA to set Nassau right.

That would be the right time for sweet celebration.