State board chastises Nassau Comptroller

In an unprecedented move, members of a state oversight board publicly chastised County Comptroller George Maragos this week over a press release he issued contending that a state oversight board could have saved Nassau $5.2 million if the agency had heeded his advice about refinancing existing debt.

Ronald Stack, chairman of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, interrupted the official agenda of the board's public meeting Tuesday, saying he was compelled to dispute Maragos' "grossly inaccurate" release. "It made an accusation of this board that I felt was absolutely, totally misleading, not true and frankly uninformed," he said.

Chris Wright, a NIFA member, added that it was the third meritless public attack by Maragos on the oversight board. "We'd rather have a constructive dialogue with the comptroller about the serious issues that face the county than deal with a press release," Wright said.

NIFA member George Marlin, a conservative financial commentator, added after the meeting, "It appears to me that Mr. Maragos insists on advertising his ignorance of public finance. I recommend he read the book on public finance I wrote several years ago."

Maragos, who founded and ran a private financial investment firm before winning his public job last year, was unfazed. "I think the gentlemen do protest too much," he said Wednesday.

NIFA, created by the state 10 years ago to monitor Nassau's finances, historically has had cordial relations with past comptrollers even when they disagreed.

Maragos insisted, he had "multiple" internal discussions with NIFA about refinancing before he issued the release.