Nassau crisis needs cooperation
Ronald Stack, chairman of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, left, speaks to the media Wednesday. Credit: AP
In the end, NIFA really had no choice.
The unanimous vote by the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority to declare a control period indicates a devastating loss of confidence in the ability of County Executive Edward Mangano to manage the fiscal challenges of one of New York's richest and most highly taxed counties.
Even Conservative Party stalwart George Marlin, a NIFA director and one of Mangano's strongest supporters during his 2009 campaign, issued a soul-searching statement saying the county's "2011 budget is built on a foundation of sand.''
Mangano, unfortunately, still denies he had a multimillion-dollar budget gap and has labeled all criticism as partisan. And he's still accusing NIFA of playing politics. It's a frightening replay of the 2000 horror show by former county executive Thomas Gulotta that led to the creation of the oversight board.
Legal challenges to NIFA's authority won't mask Mangano's failure to develop a sound budget balancing strategy. Litigation only costs the taxpayers more money.
NIFA wisely did not immediately declare a "fiscal emergency'' that could lead to a wage freeze. So the window is still open for productive union negotiations.
Mangano should start over with advisers who put a priority on management, not politics, ones who have the smarts to realize that NIFA did the county a favor. hN
