Nassau County retirement incentive extended to Aug. 31

Nassau County has extended a voluntary retirement incentive program that will pay departing civilian employees $1,000 for every year of service with the county.

Civil Service Employees Association members now have until Aug. 31 to put in their retirement papers. The incentive was first offered last month and 61 employees took the deal, saving Nassau roughly $6 million, county officials said.

“Several CSEA members came forward to express interest in the program after missing the initial deadline,” county spokesman Brian Nevin said. “Accordingly, the program was extended to maximize savings for taxpayers as the program encourages high-salaried workers to leave the employment of Nassau County.”

The extension comes as County Executive Edward Mangano continues to downsize the county’s workforce. He announced last month that as many as 100 county employees could be laid off in the coming months to close a projected $45-million deficit. CSEA president Jerry Laricchiuta anticipates the voluntary retirements could mitigate some of the expected layoffs.

“If there are any more layoffs that come from this administration, it’s like giving up on those services,” he said.

Since June 2011, 400 CSEA members have been laid off and another 360 retired with incentives.

In addition, Mangano announced a plan in July to allow CSEA members to take unpaid voluntary furloughs. In the first two weeks, the county approved 192 furlough days through July 2013 for just seven employees, Nevin said. It’s too soon, he said, to anticipate the savings from the program.