In June 2000, Gov. George Pataki signed a plan to bail out Nassau County with $100 million in state aid and the creation of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority to oversee county spending for five years.
Years of poor budgeting had pushed Nassau County to the brink of insolvency.
More than 15 years later, Nassau County — one of the wealthiest counties in the state — remains under state supervision.
Is the oversight still necessary?
In August, Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, a Republican, warned that the county is facing a budget deficit of as much as $62 million this year and scolded County Executive Edward Mangano, also a Republican, and Nassau’s financial control board for relying too heavily on borrowing to pay expenses.
Mangano administration officials dispute Maragos, saying the administration had taken proactive measures during the year to ensure that the county will not end the year with a budget deficit.
It will be interesting for all of us to see who is right.
But more than looking, Nassau County voters will also have an opportunity this fall to decide the fate of the 19 Nassau County legislators who, in theory, also oversee the county’s finances.
On the surface, this would appear to be a problem for incumbents, particularly the 11 Republicans who make up the majority in the Legislature.
Both the federal government under U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and the District Attorney’s office under Madeline Singas are or have been conducting investigations involving contracts made by Nassau County.
Singas began an ongoing review of Nassau County contracts in April after then-state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was accused of taking official actions to benefit a company that sought and received a contract with Nassau County.
Singas’ report presented what she called “troubling problems” in the contracting process, including no requirements for vendors to disclose subsidiary companies, criminal convictions, political contributions or whether a vendor is barred from government contracts in other places.
This, as noted, in a county possibly facing a deficit and still, after 15 years, under state supervision.
The investigations have been followed by reports of county contracts for amounts that appear intended to skirt the $25,000 threshold calling for county Legislature review and other contracts over $25,000 that slipped through without legislative review when they failed to act within the required 90 days.
We’ll leave the problems of the county’s assessment system for another time other than to say that the county’s numbers are so bad all taxpayers are encouraged to challenge their assessment.
But those looking for change in the Legislature, need to remember one thing — we’re talking about Nassau County.
In a show of competence missing from financial affairs, the Republican majority gerrymandered legislative districts following the last U.S. census in such a way that it would take an act of nature for the GOP to lose control of the leadership any time this decade.
Or Nassau County voters to decide that enough is enough.
