You have to hand it to Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano.
Just when you thought it impossible to come up with one more gimmick to balance the county budget, Mangano has come along to propose that a $105 traffic fee be added onto all traffic and parking tickets.
Red-light tickets currently carry a cost of $95. That $95 is comprised of a $50 fine and a $45 administrative cost, begging the question of whether it really costs Nassau County $45 to process a $50 ticket. If so, $105 may not be enough for the $64.4 million in revenue Mangano is seeking.
Putting that aside is the total cost, which under Mangano’s proposal would rise to $200 on red-light tickets. Most other tickets, from parking violations to illegal turns, cost between $110 and $225 – without the fee.
Mangano defends the “fee” as preferable to raising taxes since some of the ticket fees would be paid by non-county residents and would affect fewer people — at a much higher cost.
This is a curious argument for a county whose budget has been hurt by declining sales tax revenues.
A $200 parking ticket is not exactly a welcome mat for out-of-county shoppers.
It is also not fair to in-county or out-of-county violators.
The punishment should fit the crime, not the county’s finances.
Mangano said the fee, which he has dubbed the “Public Safety Fee,” would raise $64.4 million next year to fund police department hires and cover rising officer salaries and overtime. He stressed the need for more police officers, particularly to guard against terror threats.
This would have one believe that revenue collected by the county goes to specific purposes. It does not. Money raised by traffic and parking tickets, along with property taxes and other forms of revenues are allocated as seen fit by the county.
Calling it a “Public Safety Fee” is simply a politically acceptable — and cynical — way to raise county revenues. It is a tax by another name.
If the county chose to, it could simply move revenues allocated from one department to public safety. And if, in fact, the county policing efforts are falling $64.4 million short from what is needed to guard against terrorism the money should have been shifted long ago and Mangano has been grossly negligent.
Before raising taxes dressed as fees, the county ought to take a hard look at county spending first — including the police.
In 2015, 35 of the 50 highest paid county employees in New York State were Nassau County police, all of whom earned more than $260,000, according to the Empire Center Report.
Mangano says the 150 new police officers hired with the $64.4 million will help reduce overtime, which fiscal watchdogs say may be more than $10 million over budget, according to a report in Newsday.
These officers would be kept busy issuing tickets to pay for their salaries. The $64.4 million was calculated assuming Nassau would issue roughly 600,000 tickets next year, the same number as 2015.
One wonders what happens if motorists, facing fines that exceed $200, take greater care in how they drive and how they park.
We’d hate to see police think that motorists taking greater care would be a bad thing.
Mangano’s proposed fee is just the latest in a series of efforts he has taken to avoid raising property taxes — the issue helped him win election the first time around and re-election the second time three years ago.
Too often those efforts fell short.
In 2014, the county canceled a school speed cameras begun during the summer no speed signs, flashing lights or other warnings installed where the cameras were. That left a $30 million hole in the county budget.
In 2012, Mangano presented a plan to merge the county’s eight police precincts into four in 2012, predicting a savings of $20 million with no impact on crime.
But a county legislative budget analysis said the police department’s rising overtime costs had negated any savings.
The county later decided to reverse the merger of the Fifth Precinct in Elmont with the Fourth in Hewlett, which then Acting Police Commissioners Thomas Krumpter said would not cost the county any money.
The county followed that decision by canceling plans to merge the First Precinct in Baldwin with the Seventh Precinct in Seaford.
Now Mangano said in the face of heavy community opposition he is willing to reconsider the merger of the 6th Precinct in Manhasset with the Third Precinct in Williston Park.
With Mangano up for re-election next year, the odds looks pretty good for a return of the 6th Precinct.
For an end to the budget woes of Nassau County, whose finances have been subject to state supervision since 2000, the odds don’t look nearly as good.
