NIFA, Nassau forge a new path

It's aliiiiive!

Yes, the 2016 Nassau County budget -- revised after last week's historic override of County Executive Edward Mangano's veto by county lawmakers -- is back up and at 'em.

And, this time around, Nassau's elected officials are not going to easily shake their unruly creation.

That's because the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state panel overseeing county finances, is expected to put into place measures that for the first time would force officials to find revenue or make cuts as needed throughout the year.

But first, NIFA, during a meeting scheduled for Thursday, is poised to reject the 2016 budget and 2017-2019 financial plan lawmakers revised last week, and return it to Mangano for a (another) do-over.

"I believe the die is cast as to how NIFA will vote," chairman Jon Kaiman said Monday. "We will then begin the process of addressing budgetary deficiencies."

To that end, NIFA is seeking to hire municipal government finance expert Mark Page, who was director of New York City's Office of Management and Budget under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

NIFA also is crafting a process under which the authority would set benchmarks, and oversee county officials' efforts to make corrections where necessary. "As of yesterday, officials . . . have indicated that they will work with us in getting the required result," Kaiman said Wednesday.

Mangano already has set up a meeting Friday morning with Legis. Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow), the legislature's presiding officer, and Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport).

Last week, lawmakers voted to override Mangano's efforts to reinstate a proposed 1.2 percent property tax increase, saying other new revenue sources would fill the hole.

But NIFA disagreed, saying that the legislature's override left a budget with insufficient money to fund services.

Usually, the buck would stop there -- with NIFA and Nassau's elected officials tussling over budget matters in the background. But this time, NIFA, with Mangano as a willing partner, is fording different waters.

No, NIFA is not taking over Nassau's finances. And unelected board members will not be making final decisions on where revenue will come from, or whether services will be cut.

That responsibility will remain with Mangano and lawmakers -- with Comptroller George Maragos also becoming part of the mix.

"It is a very complicated situation that we find ourselves having to walk through," Mangano said Wednesday.

"But there is a path to walk through it," he said, "if people work together and that is what we hope," after NIFA returns the multiyear plan.

Once the budget and projected financial plan bounce back, Nassau officials will have until early December to craft a new plan. Will there be spending cuts? Where can Nassau find new revenue? Will officials have to make more changes during the year, and if so, how many and for what reasons?

The answers will come -- and publicly because of NIFA's more muscular approach.

But they all won't come at once -- because Nassau and NIFA are in unexplored territory.