Nassau County

Legislature passes plan NIFA vowed to reject

Partisan vote extends budget battle as Dec. 1 deadline looms

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The County Legislature on Monday took steps to close a $70 million-plus budget deficit that will all but ensure that the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the state-appointed board that controls the county’s finances, will reject the spending plan and may step in with its own sweeping cuts.

Almost completely along party lines, legislators voted to cut a proposed red-light ticket hike from $105 to $55, and to institute a Republican-proposed revenue plan despite chiding from residents and legislators who called the plan “hazy” and “a one-shot deal.”

During a series of back-and-forths with Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams, a Democrat from Freeport, Presiding Officer Normal Gonsalves, a Republican from East Meadow, repeatedly accused Democrats of “bringing nothing to the table” when it comes to generating much-needed revenue for the county.

Republicans hope that a so-called “amnesty” deal — which would allow owners of revenue-producing properties who owe fines from unreported income and expenses in 2013 to 2015 to essentially settle with the county for 75 cents on the dollar — will plug a projected revenue shortfall of $36 million that would be created by reducing the politically unpopular traffic fee increase.

In a letter to the Legislature last week, NIFA Chairman Adam Barsky wrote that revenues from the amnesty plan were “unlikely to be realized” in 2017, and that if the budget were to rely on them, it will be immediately rejected. If the cuts that NIFA recommends are not made after that, Barsky added, the board will impose cuts of at least $36 million.

Abrahams warned his fellow legislators that they were “setting up a standoff” with NIFA, and that the deficit and revenue situation would have to be dealt with without relying on the amnesty plan.

“They will reject these measures … and we know how NIFA would close the gap. These other groups will be left in the cross hairs,” Abrahams said, referring to several representatives of social service and youth outreach agencies who pleaded before the vote for legislators to fix the budget before NIFA steps in.

“You have a responsibility to balance the budget and not to do it on the backs of the children and families of Nassau County,” said Joseph Smith, director of Long Island REACH.

Jeff Reynolds, of the Family and Children’s Association, also warned legislators that cutting addiction and recovery services would almost certainly lead to more opioid-related deaths next year.

Alec Slatky, of AAA Northeast, has spoken out in previous legislative sessions against the traffic fee portion of the revenue plan, and said that even with the $50 cut legislators approved, it was still unacceptable because a surcharge imposed by a county conflicts with state law.

Slatky accused the Legislature of trying to strike a balance between the need to raise revenue and the need to avoid political consequences, rather than focusing on actual deterrence and safety.

Eric Naughton, the deputy county executive for finance, has proposed a series of cuts as a contingency, should NIFA reject the plan legislators approved Monday. A person familiar with NIFA’s operations confirmed on Tuesday that the agency has “continued concerns” about those cuts as well.

NIFA will review the budget and revenue plans at a public meeting on Nov. 29.