Nassau should be open about budget cuts

James Carver, head of Nassau's police benevolent association, has asked the County Legislature to hold public hearings on proposed cuts in police services.

It's a good idea, for policing and every other service likely to be impacted as County Executive Edward Mangano makes substantial cuts to the county budget.

Mangano, wisely, has decided to take the surgical approach to cost-cutting. That could mean consolidating some departments, leaving others as is, or doing away entirely with some operations.

Carver -- whose group lost a bid Wednesday to have a judge temporarily block a pay freeze imposed by NIFA, a state control board overseeing county finances -- said he has yet to receive an answer to his request from lawmakers.

"There are cuts being made in secret and that's not the way to do it," he said.

That should not be.

Most of Mangano's cuts -- including most of what he has said he intends to do with the police department -- would need legislative approval.

That will give lawmakers a chance to query about the impact of cuts, and to offer possible alternatives. More important, hearings will allow residents to get some idea of how proposed cuts would impact existing county services.

But what about cuts -- and proposed cuts -- already taking place? What about administrative cuts made by Mangano that don't need legislative approval? There ought to be transparency there, too.

Two weeks ago, the Memorial Youth Outreach Program in Roosevelt fired staff and eliminated tutoring and other programs.

The action came after program officials received a telephone call, followed by a certified letter saying that Nassau was pulling 100 percent of its funding -- $246,206 -- from the program.

There was no public notice about what was happening. Or about the potential impact, which, for Memorial, was harsh.

According to the Rev. Reginald Tuggle, executive director, Memorial Youth Outreach had added staff to the program based on assurances that a county contract would follow.

The new staff worked January through March -- as the agency waited for the contract -- and their salaries were funded mostly by personal loans from the program's board of directors.

Tuggle said that he talked with Mangano recently and that the county executive assured him that the first three months of the contract would be honored.

Mangano also said -- as he later said publicly -- that cuts to Memorial and other youth services programs were not final. He said he would reduce cuts if Albany approves letting Nassau install more red light cameras, which would bring in more money for Nassau.

Mangano has said he will balance the 2011 budget without raising taxes. It's a tough task, given that Mangano has yet to win $60 million he says he desperately needs in concessions from police and other county labor unions.

The job got even tougher, according to county officials, when NIFA refused the county's request to borrow $30 million to cover the cost of successful property tax challenges.

The finances mean nothing to the children who showed up for tutoring and other programs at Memorial the day after staff was fired.

"We had no adults to supervise the children," Tuggle said in an interview. "I had to send them home."

Cuts and consolidations are necessary in Nassau. But they have consequences, too. Which is why transparency is as important as it is necessary.