Mangano advances plan to consolidate services

New chief executives want to put their stamp on the bureaucracy, and Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano wants to start by creating an Office of Shared Services that would provide support services for other county agencies.

Mangano, a Republican who took office Jan. 1, calls it "the flagship" of his efforts to change government.

Mangano says there are scores of county workers scattered across more than 60 county agencies and offices who often perform the same basic function. He believes fewer workers could do the job better and cheaper under one roof.

The legislation he needs has passed through committees of the Nassau County Legislature and was expected to be on the agenda for final action at the full legislative meeting Monday. This comes as the county struggles with projected budget gaps of $133 million this year and $286.5 million next year and Mangano seeks to assure the public and fiscal watchdogs that he is doing all he can to control costs.

"The creation of this department is the flagship of the administration's plan to provide a more efficient county government operation," Mangano said in a memo to lawmakers last month.

There are 150 employees in different agencies responsible for accounts payable, for example, and another 50 performing human resources functions in agencies outside the human resources department, county aides said. They said the new agency might also do payroll, printing and graphics, and other functions now done by individual agencies.

"When you have over 200 employees providing like functions in various departments, it only makes sense to put them under one roof," Chief Deputy County Executive Rob Walker said recently at a legislative hearing on the proposal.

"We have an opportunity, I think, this year to really reinvent county government," Walker told the legislators.

But Legis. Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn) said he was skeptical. "On the face of it, it sounds a great deal like the Department of General Services, which the county had until several years ago," Wink said. "It really provided no savings whatsoever; in fact, I think it was part of the problem."

Walker said Mangano is moving carefully on the plan, and will not finally decide which workers will be assigned to the agency until later in the summer. The county will then know how many of its 8,700 employees opted into an early retirement program.

Still, some government groups say that creating a new agency does not necessarily lead to better government.

Robert Ward, who studies local government operations at the Rockefeller Institute in Albany, said creating a new agency with a new mission, like the information technology agencies that have sprung up in government in recent years, can turn out to be effective because, "you get the chance to start from scratch."

Ward said, "For shared services, changing an existing function, you need some sort of energy or initiative."

The Democratic minority leader, Legis. Diane Yatauro of Glen Cove, expressed doubts that the proposal would result in savings. "I'll believe it when I see it," she said.

But Republican presiding officer, Peter Schmitt of Massapequa, said, "If it produces the efficiencies they say it will, I'm for it."

All under one roof

Nassau's new Office of Shared Services, championed by County Executive Edward Mangano, would focus on purchasing, accounts payable/receivable and human resources, county spokesman Brian Nevin said, with other functions added later. Responsibilities include:

Financial management, such as accounting, claims, deposits and payments

Payroll and personnel administration

Property management, including building maintenance

Information technology

support

Motor vehicle support, including storage and maintenance

Environmental planning, fuel and energy management

Printing and graphics

Record maintenance

Mail services

Public relations and

constituent affairs

Secretarial and clerical services

Labor relations

SOURCE: NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE'S OFFICE.