Time running out for Nassau to OK budget

Next week is Thanksgiving. Yet Nassau County does not have an approved 2012 budget in place.

That's because the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the control board overseeing county finances, hasn't scheduled a vote on the proposal.

But that's because Nassau has yet to give authority staff paperwork backing up savings, revenue and other projections included in the county plan, officials said Wednesday.

Time is of the essence. If Nassau has no budget in place by year's end, it will not be able to borrow the money it needs to keep operating.

Brian Nevin, a spokesman for County Executive Edward Mangano, said that Nassau and NIFA were cooperating. And that he expected that a budget would be in place soon.

A few weeks ago, county officials announced that they had revised their initial plan -- in consultation with NIFA representatives -- to one that would allow up to millions of dollars in borrowing for property tax refunds and other expenses.

"I think we all recognized that the problems of the past can't be solved in a single year," Nevin said.

But consultation is not the same as final approval.

"As a NIFA board member, I personally can say that nothing is a done deal until NIFA reviews and each individual board member makes a judgment and votes," George Marlin said Wednesday.

That approval is key because Nassau needs approval to borrow over the next few years to help the county balance its budget, even as it cuts costs.

A meeting of the county legislature earlier this week opened a window on just how fragile county finances have become. In order to cover the cost of the police payroll two weeks ago and through the end of the year, lawmakers were asked to authorize moving monies to the police budget.

The cost would then be covered by anticipated one-shot revenue from land and other sales the county has yet to receive.

"I don't understand," Legis. David Denenberg said at one point. "You're asking us to transfer money we don't have."

An explanation came from Timothy Sullivan, who told lawmakers that he expected the revenue to come from land sales and other single-shot, revenue-generating efforts, including selling off rights to Mitchel Field leases.

Sullivan also said that he expected NIFA approval this year on that and other measures.

Marlin noted, however, said he had yet to see the Mitchel Field contract. "I can't make a judgment for or against until I can review the merits of the contract," he said.

Nassau has had a rocky relationship with NIFA. From the start, it, understandably, fought against a takeover. In the months that have followed, the relationship appears to have changed.

Where, say, New York City officials did everything they could to rid themselves of an oversight board, Nassau seems to have settled into a different kind of rhythm with NIFA.

During the "consultation," for example, Nassau made the unusual agreement to willingly stay under a control board four more years. One benefit for Nassau is that the board probably will extend a wage and step increase freeze for county employees during that time, resulting in a permanent savings of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Still, Nassau should want to be rid of NIFA. That won't come until the county fixes some of the problems that's vexed it for a decade.

And that shouldn't have to take four more years.