Comptroller: Nassau lags in nontax revenue

With so much concern about high property taxes, Nassau County is lagging behind its suburban counterparts in raising revenue in other areas, the county comptroller said in a report Tuesday.

If Nassau County could increase nontax, non-grant revenue - such as fees and fines - to the average of Suffolk and Westchester counties it could generate some $67 million in new revenue annually, Comptroller George Maragos said.

Nassau collected $174 million in such revenue in 2008, 6.5 percent of its total revenue, while Suffolk took in $184.42 million, or 6.88 percent of all revenue. Westchester took in $234.74 million, or 11.14 percent, he said.

"Our neighboring counties have been creative and very effective in generating nontax revenue," Maragos said. "There is no reason that we cannot be as successful as our neighboring counties in generating comparable nontax revenue."

The county planning department, for example, has the authority to collect a $10,000 fine for unauthorized building construction - but hasn't collected any in the past seven years, he said. The county should also look into installing muni-meters in parking areas it controls, resume its Adopt-a-Road program, and take other steps to raise revenue, he said.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano thanked Maragos for the report, but did not directly address any of the suggestions or criticism.

While data in the report dealt with the years before Mangano took over on Jan. 1, some of the comments in the report were critical of what the comptroller's staff found in current county operations.

It noted the Health Department generated additional revenue by charging a higher fee as of May 2009 for expediting permits, but that auditors, citing insufficient sharing of information, found other agencies were not even aware of the program.