The view of some Nassau County legislators to implore Gov. Cuomo to remove the NIFA control board is silly at best. This control board was established on an interim basis 10 years ago to address excessive spending. In 2019, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has still identified Nassau and Suffolk counties as being under fiscal stress. Over the years, NIFA has published several reports to help the county executive and legislature address multimillion-dollar shortfalls.
I encourage fellow residents to read them at the following website locations: https://nifa.ny.gov/docs/grantthorntonreport.pdf; https://nifa.ny.gov/docs/capitalmarketadvisorsreport.pdf and https://nifa.ny.gov.
In the Oct. 16, 2018, NIFA review of the proposed multi-year financial plan, it states that the Nassau Interim Finance Authority will only review labor contracts after the “preparation and execution of consolidated contracts” are done. It’s disgraceful that the county has yet to provide current contracts to the NIFA board.
This lack of transparency only serves to extend the need for the NIFA board to continue. Nassau County legislators should forget about sponsoring free forums on how to grieve your taxes and read the NIFA reports and act accordingly. Growing numbers of seniors and young adults can no longer afford to live on Long Island and we are taxed to the extremes. Let’s hope the placing of Nassau County into receivership doesn’t become a reality by continuing to put special interests above the people’s interests.
Joseph Campbell
Port Washington
