NIFA delays approval of $102M for programs

In an illustration of the hurdles Nassau County faces under the control of a state watchdog, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority Wednesday delayed approval of $102 million in borrowing for capital programs and legal settlements because the county had not provided enough information about the projects.

At a public meeting in Uniondale, NIFA board member George Marlin said the county had only supplied the board with a list of projects and their cost. He said the board wanted additional information about why the projects are necessary.

However, the NIFA board approved a county request for $240 million in short-term borrowing, to be used to cover temporary cash flow shortfalls.

NIFA imposed financial controls on Nassau in January after finding that the county's $2.6-billion budget had a $176-million deficit. County Executive Edward Mangano has described the budget as balanced.

Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin said the county would supply NIFA with the additional information.

The borrowing that NIFA delayed would fund $92 million in capital projects and $10 million in tax settlements.

Nevin said the holdup will not harm the capital projects. However, if NIFA ultimately rejects the borrowing, diverse projects including a $3.2 million replacement program for police vehicles, the purchase of $800,000 in new equipment for the medical examiner's office and a $1.1-million program for county parks and an ice rink modernization would come to a halt, Nevin said.

On March 22, at NIFA's direction, Mangano submitted a deficit-reduction plan that included 213 layoffs, furloughs, reduced hiring of seasonal and part-time personnel, and wage freezes.

A U.S. District judge has denied a Nassau police request for a temporary restraining order to immediately stop the county from imposing a wage freeze. At Mangano's request, NIFA had imposed a freeze effective April 1, when members of the Police Benevolent Association were to receive salary increases of 1 or 4 percent, depending upon their years of service. County detectives were to get raises up to 3.75 percent on June 1 and superior officers were scheduled of raises of 3.5 percent on July 1.