Builders group: Nassau paid most of claims

Small construction companies, which have been building little but dreams in the past few years, have something to cheer about these days: Nassau County has at last paid "the bulk" of about $4.5 million owed to the companies, according to the Long Island Contractors' Association.

LICA executive director Marc Herbst raised Cain about the money owed the companies at a county legislative meeting in January. Herbst waved a thick stack of invoices he said were in arrears.

County officials at the time did not dispute Herbst's claims.

Earlier this week, Herbst reported that most of the claims have been paid. He said about 72 contractors, some LICA members and some not, had been owed the money, on average, for six to nine months. The same problems did not occur in Suffolk County, Herbst said.

Nassau, he said, had traditionally issued work orders and allowed jobs to begin before borrowing the money to pay for them.

The state board in control of Nassau's finances, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, objected to the practice, and the county this past winter stopped it. The payments to the contractors have since been approved.

Katie Grilli-Robles, a spokeswoman for Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, declined to comment.

Herbst said that while he is pleased, construction companies will be "a little bit cautious about how things are going to work in the future." One contractor, he said, is going to be starting work soon. "They want to make sure NIFA approves it. There's going to be more diligence," Herbst said.