Nassau County ended 2014 with a $10.7 million surplus in its primary operating fund, county Comptroller George Maragos announced Monday, due to initiatives to cut costs and make up for declining sales tax revenues.
The figures, part of the county’s unaudited fiscal results report, also show Nassau drew $16 million from its 2013 fund balance and borrowed $121.1 million to fund operating expenses, a practice Maragos said “is concerning and should be avoided.”
Maragos also said the county should prioritize a reduction in borrowing and in finding additional sources of income.
“Additional structural reforms and new initiatives are needed to bring expenses in line with revenues by reducing the high levels of police overtime costs and reversing the declining trends in departmental revenues and sales tax,” he added.
Maragos also reported the county’s structural gap – the difference between recurring revenues and expenses – had increased in 2014 to a $191.2 million deficit.
He further reported that the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, which utilizes different financial reporting methods than the comptroller’s office, would have calculated a $158.2 million deficit for 2014.
Efforts to reach NIFA officials were unavailing, though NIFA board member Chris Wright told Newsday: “That’s what happens when a government spends more than it takes in and tries to get by with borrowing the difference,” adding the board would likely oversee the county’s finances “for the foreseeable future.”
