County leaders, NIFA chair meet on budget standoff

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano met briefly Tuesday with legislative leaders and the head of the county’s fiscal control board to develop plans to balance the 2016 budget.

The meeting with Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow), Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) and Nassau Interim Finance Authority Chairman Jon Kaiman comes as NIFA is expected to vote Thursday to reject the budget passed by the legislature last week.

Nassau lawmakers voted Friday to override Mangano’s veto and strip a 1.2 percent property tax hike — which would have raised $12 million in annual revenue — from the county’s $2.95 billion budget.

During Tuesday’s meeting, which lasted less than an hour, Gonsalves made the case to Kaiman that the budget as passed by the legislature is balanced and that additional cuts are not necessary.

“There was a frank discussion on the merits of the legislative proposal and we will have to wait until Thursday to see what NIFA does,” Gonsalves said in a statement.

Kaiman said there is a “fundamental difference of opinion in how we see the fiscal problems of the county and how to solve them.”

"County Executive Mangano anticipates NIFA's rejection of the legislative budget and has scheduled a meeting with the Presiding Officer and Minority Leader for Friday to discuss solutions," said Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin.

NIFA is poised to reject the budget when it meets Nov. 19 and return it to Mangano and legislative leaders for additional revisions, Kaiman said.

In a letter to legislative leaders Friday, Kaiman warned that without the tax hike, the board will “have no choice but to take measures to begin cutting nonessential, discretionary and non-life/safety expenses immediately.”

Administration officials have compiled a list of $17.7 million in discretionary spending in the budget that could be cut.

They include $6.4 million for the county’s Youth Board; $4.5 million in subsidies for the NICE Bus service; $4.4 million for emergency and fire prevention training, $500,000 for social services and $200,000 to the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Abrahams said Democrats “are committed to getting this county on the right fiscal footing.”

Kaiman warned that the budget now has $80 million in risky revenue, including $20 million from a video gaming parlor that does not have a permanent home.

The county would additionally need to borrow $80 million to cover operating expenses to balance the budget, Kaiman wrote.