Mangano budget scraps Suozzi's annual property tax hike

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano has drafted a long-term budget that eliminates 4 percent annual property tax increases that his predecessor, Thomas Suozzi, had planned for each of the next three years.

A rebounding economy could help the county's budget as Mangano projected that sales tax revenue will increase by 3 percent this year, up from the 1.75 percent that Suozzi had projected eight months ago.

The latest budget update comes as Mangano prepared to meet privately Wednesday with the state-mandated Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, which monitors county finances.

As the economy shows signs of improving, Suffolk County projections are in line with Mangano as officials estimate a growth of 3 percent in sales tax this year. "We will consider an upward recalculation if the recent string of positive checks continues," Suffolk County spokesman Dan Aug said Tuesday.

Eliminating plans in Nassau for property tax hikes in future years amounts to almost $32 million a year in lost revenue each year, and Mangano has identified a variety of ways to compensate for that loss and to balance the $2.6 billion budget in the future. The county's is the smallest portion of the property taxes residents pay.

Those plans include charging Suffolk County up to $3 million a year to house as many as 100 of its inmates at a time in the Nassau jail in East Meadow, a surcharge on traffic tickets issued on the Long Island Expressway to raise $5 million and an increase in ambulance fees, charged to patients, to bring in $5 million.

The presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, Peter Schmitt of Massapequa, praised the budget plan from his Republican ally. "I am encouraged that for the first time since we started laying out these four-year plans that it doesn't rest on tax increases," Schmitt said.

The Democratic minority leader, Diane Yatauro of Glen Cove, said the plan was too vague to accurately judge. "The bottom line is that this plan has no real meat," she said. " . . . There are no real spending cuts and no new revenue sources."

Mangano also proposed savings of $60 million next year, and an additional $60 million in 2012, for an annualized savings of $120 million a year in later years, from "labor concessions and early retirement." A proposed voluntary early retirement plan, if accepted by enough workers, would account for only $15 million of that, meaning Mangano would have to come up with additional savings of more than $100 million in labor costs annually to meet his target.

Aides to Mangano declined to discuss how the labor savings could be achieved, and the head of the largest county union was cool to the idea after agreeing to a contract revision and buyout plan last year.

"We gave at the office. We gave $23 million last year," said Jerry Laricchiuta, president of the Civil Service Employees Association Local 830. "But I'll wait and see what he has in mind."

How Mangano plans to close budget gap and by how much

$22M: annually, by reducing the size of the workforce by leaving jobs unfilled.

$25M: this year, and more in future years, by overhauling property-tax assessment system.

$15M: this year, and up to $120 million annually in future years, by reducing labor costs through an early retirement program and unspecified labor savings.

$5.5M: annually by assuming the state will reimburse tuition for students at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

$6M: annually through discretionary cuts to various programs.

$4.5M: annually, by keeping nonpersonnel costs flat and not adjusting upward for inflation.

$10.6M: annually, by raising sales tax revenue.