Nassau pulls plug on FIT subsidies

Nassau has pulled the plug on nearly $7 million in subsidies for residents who attend Fashion Institute of Technology, forcing local towns and cities to pick up the bill.

Last week, Nassau's Office of Management and Budget sent notices to the towns of North Hempstead, Hempstead and Oyster Bay, along with the cities of Glen Cove and Long Beach, stating that it had begun diverting a portion of the towns' and cities' share of county sales tax revenue to pay FIT for the out-of-county students.

New York State counties must reimburse out-of-county community colleges that their residents attend.

The $6.8-million bill amounted to about two-thirds of the $10.3 million Nassau paid for students who attended community college outside the county in 2010, according to Steve Antonio, head of Nassau County's Office of Legislative Budget Review. The localities previously agreed to pay the subsidy to SUNY community colleges for their own residents. But since 2001, when the state stopped picking up the FIT subsidies, Nassau had paid the cost. Mangano administration officials, facing a $176-million deficit for 2011, say they no longer feel responsible for the FIT subsidies. The county did not give a specific reason in its notice to the localities.

The Town of North Hempstead, which was hit with a $1.17-million bill for 165 FIT students, is considering filing suit next week against the county. North Hempstead claims the administration of County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican, has no legal authority to garnish its sales taxes and is illegally trying to close its budget gap by passing on its expenses to the towns.

"They're not solving their problems," said Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman, a Democrat. "They are just passing it on to the towns and municipalities."

County officials disagree, and don't plan to pick up the cost anymore. "We think that we have this authority," to pass along the costs, said Tim Sullivan, Nassau's deputy county executive for finance. In fact, Sullivan said the county was granting the towns a break by not billing them for 2001-2009, when it absorbed more than $40 million in FIT reimbursements.

Hempstead officials said they were reviewing the issue while an Oyster Bay spokesman did not return a call for comment.

Suffolk and Westchester counties have not passed along the FIT subsidy to their towns.

However, Suffolk County Legis. Tom Cilmi (R-Bay Shore) wrote to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state legislators asking them to rescind the FIT payment requirement. Nearly half of Suffolk's out-of-county tuition costs -- more than $6 million -- go to FIT, Cilmi said, while only 18 percent of its out-of-county students attend the school.

FIT, located in Manhattan and considered a SUNY community college despite its advanced degree programs and higher tuition, charges $10,980 annually per out-of-county student. About 600 Nassau residents attend the school full-time and another 200 are enrolled part-time.

North Hempstead argues that FIT should not qualify as a community college and should be exempt from the charge-back program. The towns are paying not only for students who attend the school's two-year program, but the four-year and advanced degree programs as well.

An FIT spokeswoman said the school meets the criteria to qualify as a community college.