Mangano seeks to restore tax hike that legislators stripped from budget

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said Wednesday he will veto legislative changes to his 2015 budget that stripped out a 3.4 percent property tax increase, setting up a possible showdown with the county legislature.

Mangano said he will reject five amendments to his $2.9 billion budget that lawmakers said would offset $31 million in proposed new tax revenue.

Mangano and the head of a state monitoring board that controls the county's finances said the initiatives would not cover the revenue loss.

The GOP-controlled legislature would have seven days to override Mangano's expected vetoes, which would be his first since taking office in 2010. If lawmakers were to take no action, Mangano's budget, including the tax increase, would go to the Nassau Interim Finance Authority for final approval.

Mangano, who met with NIFA chairman Jon Kaiman for several hours Wednesday, said the budget passed by the legislature "is structurally out of balance" because it failed to recoup the lost tax revenue.

"I submitted a fiscally sound budget that is in the best interest of taxpayers," said Mangano, a Republican.

To offset the new property tax revenue, the legislative amendments reduce the budget for contracts for which spending has not yet occurred by $13 million; restructure debt to save $7 million; provide for more aggressive collection of fees and fines, for $1.2 million; and recover the value of bond premiums, for $11 million.

Kaiman sent a letter to legislative leaders Wednesday, outlining his concerns with the amendments, saying they failed to provide the revenue necessary to compensate for Mangano's tax hike.

Kaiman said bond premiums cannot be used for operating purposes. Also, Nassau Comptroller George Maragos has said debt restructuring and going after fines and fees provide few opportunities for savings. "The budget as passed by the legislature is a non-starter," Kaiman wrote.

Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) declined to comment, saying she had not received NIFA's letter. "We will review it and make our determination accordingly," she said.

Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) called the actions by NIFA and Mangano "disappointing" and said his caucus would support a veto override. "We felt the amendments were fundamentally, as well as fiscally, sound," Abrahams said.

Leaders of the 19-member legislature must get 13 votes, including those of at least two Democrats, to override Mangano's expected vetoes.

Mangano in September proposed the first property tax hike of his nearly five years in office. Residents with combined household incomes below $500,000 would receive a credit for the tax increase through a state rebate program, Mangano said. Households with income above that threshold and businesses cannot get the rebate.

Mangano said the tax increase was necessary to help offset an "unexplainable" drop in sales tax receipts that could leave the county with a $70 million budget hole by year's end.

Lawmakers in both parties -- all of whom are up for re-election next year -- balked at the tax hike, saying residents could not afford the average $41-per-household increase.