NIFA board approves $4.2B Nassau County budget for 2025

Nassau’s financial watchdog group voted to pass the county’s 2025 budget Thursday after lawmakers fixed an "illegal" accounting method first identified in October.

The Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) unanimously voted to approve the county’s $4.2 billion budget and multiyear financial plan for 2025-2028. The vote came after NIFA rejected the county's initial multiyear budget plan on Nov. 26, giving officials two weeks to make changes. NIFA officials pointed out that the initial multiyear budget improperly used prior year surpluses to fund future expenses. 

"If it weren’t for NIFA, this budget would’ve been illegal," NIFA chairman Richard Kessel told Newsday on Thursday. The county’s initial budget did not comply with so-called generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) or the county charter, he said. 

County Executive Bruce Blakeman made the required changes within NIFA’s deadline by eliminating $30 million of prior year surpluses, also known as fund balance, initially counted as anticipated revenue. Officials also upped estimated sales tax growth from 0% to 1.8%. Sales tax accounts for about 40% of total revenue for the county, Newsday has reported.

During NIFA's meeting Thursday evening, several board members characterized the county's changes as "the bare minimum."

"Ignoring the County's overreliance on fees, fines and revenue one-shots will catch up to us," said Rory Lancman, NIFA's vice chair.

Blakeman's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Officials also had to dock $46.4 million in revenue they counted from red-light camera ticket fees after a state court deemed last month that such fees were illegal. The county was charging drivers up to $100 in administrative fees on top of each $50 red-light camera fine, dubbing them "driver responsibility" and "public safety" fees.

David Raimondo, an attorney who has waged a legal battle with Nassau and Suffolk on the issue for nearly a decade, is suing to get the counties to reimburse drivers. Nassau County alone could owe drivers up to $400 million in illegal fees collected over the years, Newsday previously reported. County officials are expecting to get over $13 million in revenue from traffic-related fines in 2025.

Having to pay drivers back is just one of several issues NIFA members will keep their eye on next year. "We don’t just pass the budget and walk away ... It’s not a perfect budget," Kessel said.

The new budget will take effect on Jan. 1.