Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano yesterday vowed to fight a decision by a state oversight board to take control of the county’s finances. “We will take legal action to protect the taxpayers of Nassau County,” Mr. Mangano said at a press conference after the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, in a 6-0 vote, determined that the county had failed to balance its $2.6 billion budget. Instead, the panel, which was created in 2000, said that the county’s budget has a $176 million gap. Mr. Mangano, a newly elected Republican, disputed those findings, maintaining that the budget is balanced and the board’s decision to intervene is “premature, unfounded and unnecessary.”
George J. Martin, the financial authority’s director, acknowledged in a statement after the vote that the Mangano administration had made some “forward progress” but had not “adequately addressed” the budget deficit it inherited. He complained that the county had not declared a fiscal emergency or implemented a plan of “shared sacrifice … the county’s 2011 budget is built on a foundation of sand.” The vote gives the finance authority the power to approve contracts and borrowing. But it cannot raise taxes or fire workers, and it chose not to freeze wages. — Andrew Keshner
Eastern District Seeks to Fill Magistrate Judge Slot on L.I.
