Layoffs, police cuts highlight 2012 county budget

By ALEX COSTELLO

Last week, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano announced a plan to close a projected deficit of more than $300 million in the 2012 budget through layoffs and reforms, bringing about the first budget reduction in years.

Mangano’s “Fix Nassau Now” budget, as he has termed it, would eliminate 1,010 jobs, cut millions of dollars in spending and reform contracts and the county structure to close an estimated $310 million deficit. The plan would cut spending by $63 million.

“Nassau’s finances spun out of control over the past decade because of a broken assessment system and overly generous contractual obligations that are unaffordable in a sluggish economy,” Mangano said in a release. “My reforms will fix Nassau now.”

Foremost among those reforms is cutting more than 1,000 jobs through layoffs and attrition. According to Mangano, the county has already cut 300 jobs this year. It will lay off an additional 710 employees around the end of the year — reducing the county payroll from 8,410 (which was already the county’s lowest employment number in decades) to 7,400. The plan would also require all county employees to contribute 25 percent of the cost of their health insurance policies.

“We already had 128 layoffs on July 1,” said Ryan Mulholland, director of communications for Nassau County CSEA Local 830. “If he’s going to lay off 700 more employees, this county is not going to be able to function. It’s as simple as that.”

Mulholland added, “We have probation officers and social service case workers who already have two or three times the acceptable case load in their departments. We’ve had times when 911 calls have been put on hold because there’s not enough people to answer calls. These things are happening now. If you’re going to cut the work force by 10 percent, there’s no way that they’re going to be able to function as a government.”

Also, according to Mulholland, Mangano cannot force union members to pay into their health insurance because they are protected by the terms of their contracts.

Mangano’s budget also reforms the county Police Department. It calls for consolidating the county’s precincts from eight to six, the details of which have yet to be released.

Through what he is calling the “More Cops on the Streets, Less in the Seats” program, Mangano plans on cutting desk jobs and putting officers on the street. He also plans to eliminate precinct “minimum manning” — a system in which an on-duty officer who does not normally work in a precinct can not be called in to fill a position there. Instead, an officer from that precinct must be called in, even if that means overtime duty.

“Simply put, it enhances crime fighting while reducing wasteful contractual practices that force taxpayers to pay overtime when police are available at straight-time pay,” Mangano said of the plan. “This is primarily accomplished by eliminating an archaic precinct-by-precinct minimum-manning contractual requirement that limits the administration’s ability to curtail overtime costs.”

According to Mangano, Nassau County is the only major police force that has such a “wasteful and unnecessary arrangement.”

The Nassau County Police Benevolence Association — the NCPD’s union — is critical of Mangano’s plan. “It continues his destruction of the Police Department,” said PBA President James Carver. “It continues to negatively impact the services that have made us a successful Police Department.”

Carver said that Mangano’s plan to eliminate minimum manning and consolidate departments will take officers off the street instead of adding them. “He’s already eliminated all dedicated DWI patrols, he’s already eliminated — in five of the precincts — the anti-crime patrols,” Carver said. “He’s already eliminated or decreased a lot of the patrols that are very effective crime deterrents.”

Cutting back on police will also cut back on the services that people need, Carver said, such as having officers speak at village and civic association meetings to address residents’ concerns.

Mangano’s proposed cuts follow cuts made earlier this year to the 2011 budget. He originally reduced spending by $100 million in the 2011 budget, and then cut an additional $121 million after the Nassau Interim Finance Authority — a seven-member board created by the state in 2000 to monitor the county’s finances — said that the original budget didn’t go far enough. The additional cuts included hundreds of layoffs and an employee wage freeze.

“They’re going away from what’s made Nassau County successful,” said Carver. “They’re trying to balance the budget by compromising public safety.”

Comments about this story? ACostello@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 269.