Playing the 'blame game' in Nassau

A reader, Craig, who lived in Baldwin 20 years before moving east to Suffolk County, is one of many who e-mailed last week about the Nassau Interim Finance Authority's takeover of Nassau County's finances.

"I am finding myself suckered into the 'blame game,' " Craig wrote. "There's so much finger-pointing, with Mangano's folks saying, 'Look at the mess was hiding' and those among Suozzi's administration willing to speak saying, 'Look how badly these guys messed things up in a year.' "

And then Craig raises several questions, which are worth answering:

Was Suozzi's restoration of the county's financial reputation and bond rating the result of a lot of smoke and mirrors? Did he build a financial house of cards?

No. And no. With the help of a hefty tax increase voted in by fellow Democrats before he took office, an infusion of $100 million in state aid and NIFA using its good credit to refinance county bonds, Nassau actually took strides toward reducing the gap between what it spends and what it brings in, especially during Suozzi's first term. There even came a time when the county paid off a significant portion of its nagging assessment bill out of its operating budget rather than bonding it out. The county also accumulated almost $300 million in reserves - the rainy day fund.

During Suozzi's second term, Nassau began spending down its reserves and borrowing more to cover the cost of successful property tax challenges. And although Suozzi did manage to win some union concessions, the county - through binding arbitration and extenders - agreed to deferred raises and overly lengthy union contracts that Mangano says tied his hands. Mangano and Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt had both approved the deferred payments as legislators.

Had Suozzi been re-elected, would Nassau be in the same situation as it is a year after Mangano took office? What might be different?

No, and maybe a lot of things. For one, Suozzi did tap into two significant new revenue sources: An energy tax and, in future years, limited property tax increases. That money would have helped fund the deferred raises and contract increases, in addition to other operating expenses. That revenue, in addition to an unexpected increased sales tax revenue, likely would have made for a stronger 2011 budget. But Mangano took both out of the budget during his first minutes in office. Still, that's not to say everything was going to be rosy during a third Suozzi term: NIFA was critical of Suozzi for spending down the county's reserve funds; and for beginning to increase bonding for property tax refund payments, among other things.

Did Suozzi's resurrection of Gulotta's mess lay the groundwork for the problems we have today, or are the people of Nassau still paying a price for what happened before Suozzi came into office?

First up, the county is nowhere near where it was during the crisis under Gulotta, when Wall Street slammed Nassau's bond rating one step shy of junk. Also, there's no resurrection here because Nassau's structural problems - under three county executives - refused to die. Assessment remains a major drag on county finances; so is the county's habit of almost gifting overly generous labor contracts. This is Nassau's third crisis since the mid-1990s and its political leadership has yet to go far enough to address them.

Why isn't Suffolk or any other county in New York having these problems?

To be fair, every county is facing financial stress. And New York State's deficit is far worse. What makes Nassau different is that the stress is on top of years of not adequately dealing with everything else.

All of which brings us back to the "Blame Game."

Bottom line: There's enough blame to go around, back and through both political parties and elected officials in Nassau County, dating back to the late 1990s.

Everybody knew what needed to be done, but - even as Republican leadership gave way to Democrats and back to Republican again - it never got done. What's worse is that the finger-pointing continues, Democrats to Republicans, Republicans to NIFA, as Nassau's fiscal fires burn.

If all of that energy, all of that passion went into fixing rather than fighting, Craig, oh what a different place Nassau would be.