NIFA's efforts in Nassau are partisan

Regarding "Time to show what's in Nassau budget, not PR" [News, Jan. 11], the Nassau Interim Finance Agency (NIFA), which is funded by Nassau County taxpayers, has already hired former state Chief Judge Judith Kaye to legally advise it about the possibility of enacting a control period. County Executive Edward Mangano isn't engaged in a public relations effort as much as his decision to hire legal counsel is an attempt to preserve the elected office of Nassau County executive consistent with the sworn oath he took.

Examine NIFA's selective enforcement of the statute that permits a control board to take over in the event that Nassau County experiences a projected 1 percent operational budget gap. In business law, I was taught that silence passes as acceptance. How does NIFA seek to enforce this statute in 2011 against the Mangano administration, while not enforcing the same standard during the eight years of profligate and irresponsible spending by the former Suozzi administration? It is only January, and NIFA is already considering empowering a control board on the speculation of a projected operating budget deficit greater than 1 percent, or $26 million.

When NIFA board member Thomas Stokes was deputy county executive for operations and finance under then-Executive Thomas Suozzi, they supported an irresponsible and expensive arbitration award to the Civil Service Employees Association, while Nassau County taxpayers were adjusting to a new and difficult economic paradigm.

The Suozzi administration also failed to accurately adjust budget assumptions by reducing sales tax projections only $90 million in February 2009. Instead, it should have benchmarked against the previous year's final sales tax revenue, which would have produced a more accurate baseline.

The Suozzi administration also chose to set aside only $50 million for tax certiorari settlements in 2010, despite the fact it had hemorrhaged more than $80 million in the previous years. Each of these decisions contributed to a 1 percent or greater operating budget deficit, yet NIFA was silent and chose not to enact a control period.

With Nassau County and the nation now safely past the difficult financial events of September 2008, with consumers having paid down significant amounts of debt and the economy beginning to heal, I would advise the NIFA board to demonstrate restraint. How will Nassau County taxpayers feel if NIFA enacts an unnecessary control period, while the economy and sales tax revenue recover, producing modest operating budget surpluses?

My advice to NIFA is just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Michael P. Mulhall

Rockville Centre