Nassau County has never needed bipartisanship more than now

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano recently asked the State Legislature for authorization to borrow at least $41 million in order to pay property tax settlements without the approval of either the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, which currently controls the county’s finances, or the County Legislature.

County Democrats have pledged to block Mangano’s efforts, and NIFA proclaimed that the only way it would approve new borrowing legislation is if Mangano finds $150 million in recurring labor savings.

For years, the Democratically controlled Legislature — which is now under Republican control — allowed the previous administration to borrow money. In fact, many of the Democrats who have been in the Legislature for a number of years and who always voted to allow borrowing in order to pay for the tax certioraris — Judy Jacobs, David Denenberg and Joseph Scannell, for example — have now had a change of heart.

And so, rather than leave this decision in the hands of the partisan and self-serving-agenda-seeking NIFA, Mangano would rather put it in the hands of the Republican-controlled State Senate and the Democratic-led Assembly.

Good for you, Mr. Mangano!

It’s time for our political leaders and the heads of the Civil Service Employees Association and the Police Benevolent Association to come together in a spirit of bipartisanship so that the county can bond these outstanding tax debts without causing a very serious financial strain on its operations.

Mangano also introduced a bill that would give the county the authority to use $192 million in borrowing that was authorized by the Legislature in 2004 and 2005 to pay property tax refunds.

It is hard to fathom that while there is $192 million available — funds set aside for a situation exactly like this, when people are owed tax refunds — politics have interfered with that process, and now the people will suffer.

The Nassau County Democratic Committee even went so far as to pass a resolution at the party’s nominating con-vention that not only condemns Mangano’s plan, but threatens the Democratic caucus, saying that if its members support the plan, there will be repercussions.