Nassau urged to speed up stalled contracts

About 200 demonstrators appeared in Mineola Tuesday to press Nassau County to speed payment to cash-strapped social service contractors.

Organizers of the protest on the steps of the County Executive and Legislative Building warned that some agencies could be forced to close while others may have to shut programs, forcing the county to provide the services at potentially higher cost. Some say they still don't have contracts more than halfway through the year.

The county executive and comptroller's offices pointed fingers at each other over the delays.

Katie Grilli-Robles, spokeswoman for County Executive Edward Mangano, said "we have been meeting regularly with the Nassau County comptroller's office to try to streamline their current approval process, which until recently was taking anywhere from 60 to 90 days to complete."

But Jostyn Hernandez, spokesman for Comptroller George Maragos, pointed to a letter to the administration that blamed county departments for some of the delays. "The problem . . . has not been within the comptroller's office," said the letter, sent earlier this month. For instance, some claims were delayed because they lacked the required departmental signatures, the letter said.

The county and its departments execute the contracts. The comptroller then reviews them for approval and payment of claims.

Representatives of some of about 50 contract agencies that are part of the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island said Thursday that they are running out of money because they have not been paid since last year.

The agencies say that when they provide services without a finalized contract, they are subsidizing the county in expectation of payment, much of which comes from either the state or the federal governments. But the delays this year are unprecedented in their scope, said Gwen O'Shea, the council's president.

"While agencies have been using lines of credit and furloughing staff to try to ride out the delay and continue to provide services, many can't hold out any longer and are being forced to shut down programs and will even close their doors," O'Shea said.

Jim Dilts, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul, which had provided financial management for adults, said: "We paid the staff for five months before turning the job back to the county. We couldn't do it any longer without risking our other programs."