Nassau's fiscal fate hangs in the balance

The Nassau Interim Finance Authority is close to hiring a firm to sift through county operations and come up with suggestions to cut costs and increase revenue.

And Tim Sullivan, Nassau's deputy county executive for finance, couldn't be happier.

"We've been doing the same thing for months now and I'd be glad to hear anyone else's ideas," he said.

It's almost six months into the fiscal year -- under NIFA, a state control board -- and Nassau's yet to implement its most dire plans for cutting costs.

Come July 1 -- barring any concessions from county unions, and both sides acknowledge there are no ongoing, formal negotiations -- the plan is to lay off hundreds of county employees and redeploy a significant number of police officers from marine and other units to the streets.

"It would have to be cut, cut, cut," Sullivan said.

The county has yet to send, to NIFA for review, proposals to sell leases at Mitchel Field and parcels of county property.

Nassau needs that revenue.

One spot of good news is that Nassau is pulling in sales tax revenue like gangbusters, at rates significantly higher than its budget projected.

The county has also, according to Sullivan, managed to free money in its operating budget by not replacing retiring employees.

With all the public hoopla over dreams of a casino, a new Coliseum, a renovated aquatic center and a minor league baseball team, it would be easy to believe that Nassau's worst fiscal days are behind it.

That's not so.

Nassau will have to produce a new budget and four-year plan in September -- which is why NIFA wants to have a consultant scour county operations and complete a report by August.

What happens over the next six months -- and into 2012, when the county's anticipated budget gap widens -- will determine Nassau's fiscal fate.

"You're damned right we're concerned," Sullivan said.

More than a decade ago, a consulting firm hired by then-County Executive Thomas Gulotta scoured the county for savings too.

The firm, PFM -- which still works with the county in a more limited way, on finances, according to Sullivan -- veritably tripped over missed savings and revenue opportunities.

It all ended up in a thick binder that recommended everything from eliminating unused telephone lines to raising fees, for parks and other services, that were artificially low compared to other jurisdictions because they hadn't been raised for almost a decade.

That was then. This is now.

Just last year, Sullivan said, the county generated an additional $60 million to $70 million by raising fees on parks, ambulances and other services.

"Not too many things were sacred last year," he said.

Sullivan said he looked forward to getting NIFA's suggestions -- the control board has no authority to order that Nassau take any of them.

But if nothing significant breaks, on revenue or savings, Nassau could find itself in trouble come fall, when NIFA would have to give its approval on the 2012 budget.

That could also be the time NIFA considers some of County Executive Edward Mangano's big ideas including, should it pass a referendum vote, a plan to build a new Coliseum.

Maybe NIFA will approve borrowing for that -- and the aquatic center, minor league baseball park and other pending proposals. But the decision will -- and should -- be made against a larger backdrop: Can Nassau afford it? Or not?

Because after the dust settles -- whether from the high hopes of building toward Nassau's future or the ongoing tussling between NIFA and Nassau officials -- all that remains is one key question.

Can Nassau survive whatever it takes to place the county on firm fiscal footing?