NIFA rejects Nassau's $2.95 billion budget

Nassau's financial control board voted unanimously Thursday to reject County Executive Edward Mangano's 2016 budget, saying the $2.95 billion spending plan relies on more than $80 million in risky revenue assumptions.

The seven-member board of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority voted down the budget at a meeting in Uniondale.

NIFA directed Mangano and legislative leaders to make additional spending reductions, which could include steep cuts in spending for youth services and NICE Bus subsidies.

"The county has adopted a financial plan for NIFA's consideration that would continue a structural imbalance between county expenditures and revenues through 2019," board members said in a statement. "The control period cannot last forever. The county's financial planning must be put on a reasonable path toward balance with some visible horizon."

In a report released Thursday, NIFA said the budget relies on $81.3 million in risky revenue. The report says the budget includes $20 million from a video gaming parlor with no permanent home yet; $10.7 million in sales tax revenue that may come in below the county's expectations, and underestimates overtime costs by $9.2 million.

Separately, Nassau needs to borrow $80 million for property tax refunds, judgments and settlements. The board is expected to approve the borrowing, NIFA chairman Jon Kaiman said.

"The problem that we face is that the decisions are simply hard to make but the problems are real," Kaiman said. "There's always explanations as to why we can put off the difficult decisions another year."

Mangano has scheduled a meeting Friday with county legislature Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) and Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) "to discuss NIFA's rejection of the legislative budget and solutions for balancing the 2016 budget," said Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin.

Gonsalves defended the budget as reasonable and attainable while Abrahams said Democrats were willing to work with NIFA to get the county on "the right fiscal footing."

Rejection of the budget came less than a week after the GOP-controlled legislature voted to override Mangano's veto of a measure that stripped from the budget a 1.2 percent property tax hike, which would have generated $12 million. The legislature previously had cut $16 million in new fees.

County officials have compiled a list of $17.6 million in discretionary spending that could be cut, including elimination of $6.4 million for the county's youth board; $4.4 million in NICE subsidies; $4.3 million for emergency and fire prevention training and $1.2 million in sales tax aid to local villages.

NIFA board member Adam Haber said the necessary spending cuts "will not be pretty because . . . this is a monstrous deficit that is not easily overcome."

Kaiman called the county's proposed cuts "substantial," but said they may not be enough to close the budget gap. He said NIFA won't say how much needs to be cut from the budget, noting that some at-risk revenues may materialize.

NIFA recommends "rigorous monitoring" of county's finances "to ensure that operations of the county will be conducted within the resources available."

Also yesterday, NIFA announced the hiring of Mark Page, former director of New York City's Office of Management and Budget under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as a consultant to the board on its management of the county's finances. NIFA has yet to determine Page's salary, officials said.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.