Nassau GOP lawmakers will not override Mangano budget vetoes

Majority Republicans in the Nassau County Legislature said Monday night that they will not contest County Executive Edward Mangano's 3.4 percent property tax increase, ensuring it will stand.

Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) said in a statement it was “clear” the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the county's financial control board, would reject amendments lawmakers approved unanimously last month to strip out the tax hike.

The legislature had OKd seven amendments to Mangano's $2.98 billion budget that it said would replace $31 million in expected new tax revenues. Lawmakers also added $1 million for more mental health and substance abuse programs.

Last week, Mangano issued the first vetoes of his tenure, saying the legislature's initiatives contained “risky one-shot revenues and expense reductions that violate sound budget practices.”

NIFA chairman Jon Kaiman had called the legislative package a “nonstarter” because it relied on speculative revenues and tactics prohibited by the control board. He and other board members said NIFA, if the vetoes were overridden, might have had to force across-the-board spending cuts. NIFA must approve the budget.

“NIFA's position renders a veto override futile and against the public's best interests,” Gonsalves said. She said actions the control board was poised to take “could make it impossible to fund programs essential to public safety, our youth and other initiatives critical to the public health.”

Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport), whose caucus had joined with the GOP to eliminate the tax hike, said last night that Gonsalves' announcement “reeked of bad politics and bad government.”

Abrahams said if “there really was concern on behalf of NIFA then we should have never amended the budget in the first place. Now it looks like they [Republicans] were just looking to stave off the tax hike for election purposes.”

The eight-member Democratic caucus supports a veto override, which requires the votes of 13 of the 19 legislators and must be done by Thursday.

“You still have the opportunity now to stop the tax increase,” Abrahams said. “Call a meeting. You have the votes.”

In proposing the tax hike — his first since taking office in 2010 — Mangano, a Republican, blamed an “unexplainable” drop in sales tax revenue, which this year could leave the budget with a $70 million hole.

The average homeowner would see a $41 property tax increase, Mangano has said, but most would be eligible for a state rebate to offset it. Those earning more than $500,000 and businesses aren't eligible.

“This budget participates in the Governor's Property Tax Freeze Credit program and ensures all homeowners earning under $500,000 a year have zero net out-of-pocket additional expenses for a sixth consecutive year,” Mangano said Monday night in a statement.

To replace the $31 million in new tax revenue, lawmakers sought to use $11 million in bond premiums — additional money received when borrowing for capital projects; reduce the budget for contracts for which spending has not yet occurred by $13 million; restructure debt to save $7 million and provide for more aggressive collection of fees and fines, for $1.2 million in revenues.

Kaiman said last night he told Gonsalves that if the amendments stood, NIFA may have taken “decisive action” to balance the budget, including closing parks and suspending numerous county programs.

“Certain functions of county government would be drastically affected,” Kaiman said.

NASSAU TAX HIKE

County Executive Edward Mangano has proposed a property tax increase in 2015, his first ever, to help balance the budget and make up for a large dip in sales tax revenue:

2015 budget proposal: $2.98 billion

Revenues from tax increase: $31 million

Increase in Nassau's combined tax levy: 3.4 percent

Cost of increase, per average homeowner: $41

Note: Mangano says households earning less than $500,000 a year will receive a credit for the amount of the tax increase via a state rebate program.

Source: Nassau County Executive

By Paul LaRocco

paul.larocco@newsday.com@paullarocco

Paul LaRocco is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in late 2010, he has also covered Nassau and Suffolk county politics and government and the Town of Oyster Bay.