Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos on Wednesday announced that the county will end 2013 with a $5.6 million budgetary surplus, due to an increase in sales tax revenues, reduced unemployment and a decline in social service expenses.
But Maragos said in a press release last week he expects the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority to determine the county will end the year with a deficit of $119.6 million, a 39.9 percent increase from 2012, because its calculations exclude other financing sources.
The projections, released as part of the comptroller’s 2013 midyear budget report, would mark the county’s third highest budgetary surplus in the last four years, according to the release.
Maragos said the surplus would be achieved despite paying approximately $30 million in police termination costs and $35 million in property tax refunds from operating funds.
“The county economy has been able to rapidly recover from Superstorm Sandy and continues to grow faster than neighboring counties and the national economy,” Maragos said in a statement. “The county will be financially stronger with the highest fund balance since 2010 and the lowest structural deficit since 2005.”
Maragos projects a 7.2 percent increase in overall sales tax revenues, according to the release. The county, Maragos said, is projected to finish the year with $2.8 billion in expenses.
