DiNapoli to audit Nassau contract system

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has agreed to a request from Nassau's financial control board to audit the county's system for approving outside contracts and paying vendors.

"Given the significant nature of Nassau County's financial operations and New York State's interest in ensuring the effective operation of state-imposed fiscal controls, we have decided to initiate an audit of the county's contracting procedures," Deputy Comptroller Steven Hancox wrote Tuesday to Ronald Stack, chairman of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority.

NIFA, which took control of the county's finances a year ago, had requested the audit in December after expressing concerns about late payments to county vendors and unauthorized bills for outside legal work.

The audit is expected to begin next month and take six months to a year to complete, DiNapoli's office said.

County Executive Edward Mangano Tuesday repeated the statement he made when NIFA requested the audit: "There's no government that has more oversight than Nassau County, where contracts are approved by a 19-member legislative body, the [county] comptroller, Independent Office of Budget and Review, and NIFA prior to execution by the county executive. Additional oversight is always welcome."

NIFA is supposed to approve all contracts of $50,000 or more. However, board members said they had not seen many of the contracts composing the total of $6.8 million in outside legal work approved by the county legislature last month.

The request for an audit by the state comptroller originated with Chris Wright, whom DiNapoli recommended for appointment to the NIFA board.

Wright said Tuesday that NIFA appreciates DiNapoli's response "and we look forward to findings which NIFA hopes to leverage for the benefit of the county's budget and the county's spending controls."