Mangano to unveil $121M in spending cuts

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano Wednesday is expected to announce $121 million in spending cuts that he said will slice into every Nassau department, from the smallest service agency to the police force, and result in public employee layoffs.

While few details were available, the cuts are part of a wider financial plan that he must submit to the Nassau Interim Finance Authority by next Tuesday. The move follows a court decision this week that rejected Mangano's attempt to block the state agency from taking over the county's finances.

Mangano had sued after the six-member NIFA board voted in January to impose a control period on the county. Although he and other county officials maintain Nassau's $2.6-billion budget is balanced, NIFA concluded it has a $176-million deficit, in part because the agency no longer counts borrowed money as revenue, as it had in the past.

Supreme Court Justice Arthur Diamond acknowledged that NIFA was not permitting budgeting practices it had allowed in the past, but he still concluded the agency was justified in taking control.

"The change in the rules of the game leaves me little choice but to make deep cuts," Mangano said. "The results will be shared sacrifice and pain."

Mangano said he refuses to raise property taxes, which would have to be hiked by 21.5 percent to fill the $176-million hole calculated by NIFA. "This is a paper deficit, but we're meeting it with real cuts," he said.

He said he went over the planned cuts Tuesday with county Comptroller George Maragos and the legislature's presiding officer, Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa), before he met with NIFA chairman Ronald Stack. Mangano described the meeting with Stack as "productive."

A NIFA board member who was present said, "It was a constructive beginning to what will hopefully be a fruitful process." Stack did not return a call seeking comment.

Mangano is expected to give more details about the spending reductions Wednesday at a news conference, where he will ask NIFA to use its authority to freeze wages as of April 1, for a savings of $10 million.

An additional $50.5 million would be saved through layoffs and the elimination of unfilled vacancies, a Mangano aide said, but details were not provided.

Mangano will make $40 million in spending reductions in across-the-board cuts to all agencies. The aide also said Mangano estimates that changes to the county assessment system would lower property-tax refunds this year to $80 million, compared with the $100 million calculated by NIFA.