Less than two weeks after Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano told the MTA that it could learn a thing or two about creating a balanced budget from Nassau County, the county’s proposed budget for 2013 is on the brink of collapse.
George Marlin, the director of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, said he “will not vote to approve a 2013 budget or a fiscal plan that includes any ‘one shot’ proceeds from mortgaging the sewer system to the tune of $750 million.”
NIFA was created by the state Legislature to oversee the county’s finances.
Marlin said two other members of the NIFA board have taken the same position.
In particular Marlin objects to using funds the county received by privatizing the sewer system to balance the budget.
“I will not vote to approve a 2013 budget or a fiscal plan that includes any ‘one shot’ proceeds from mortgaging the sewer system to the tune of $750 million,” Marlin said in a statement preceding a NIFA meeting two weeks ago.
“‘One shots’ do not solve structural operating deficits,” he said. “It merely kicks the can down Mineola Boulevard, and sticks the bill to the children and grandchildren of today’s taxpayers.”
Marlin said taxpayers would be paying the $750 million back over the next 50 years with an annual interest rate of 10 percent to 15 percent
.Marlin is also unhappy with the Veolia bus deal. He said that NIFA received the contracts at the last minute and only approved the deal because it did not want public bus transportation to come to a halt on Jan. 1, 2012.
In addition, according to Marlin, the budget approved by the county Legislature requires the county to cut $150 million in recurring labor costs, a number it has yet to reach.
It is an unpleasant reality that NIFA has taken control over the county’s finances.
However, without NIFA, Nassau, one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, was headed toward bankruptcy. It’s still possible that Nassau County could be the next Scranton.
Since taking control, Marlin and his board have been even-handed and non-partisan. They understand the risks involved in uncontrolled borrowing and the temptation to borrow rather than make the painful decisions to get the budget under control.
In a bit of irony, state Sen. Jack Martins, a Republican and close ally of Mangano, wrote last week in this paper, “For too long we’ve been kicking the MTA can down the road for someone else to wrestle with it. If we did the same with our personal or business finances, it would be disastrous so how could anyone advocate that approach with a $14 billion state authority?”
He concludes, “taxpayers have every right to shut down the endless buffet.”
He should urge his friend to apply the same tough standard to county government.
The county has until Sept. 15 to come up with a balanced budget. For the sake of everyone who lives or works in Nassau County, we wish them success.
