Nassau County slashes Tempo Group's funds

The two social workers had been counseling drug addicts on how to stay clean. Then, on July 5, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano slashed funding for drug-treatment and youth services, and suddenly they were without jobs. One is the mother of three children, all under age 12, whose husband is unemployed. The other is a single woman who had recently taken out a mortgage to buy a fixer-upper home.

Barry Wilansky, executive director of Tempo Group, one of the South Shore’s largest drug-treatment agencies, with offices in North Merrick, Syosset and Woodmere, said he was devastated that he had to lay off the two social workers, after having already let an associate director go the previous year. The county cuts, however, left him with no choice, he said.

“Tempo Group lost 100 percent of our youth-services funding,” Wilansky said.

Tempo Group was one of 15 addiction-services and mental-health agencies that Mangano defunded after he reached a political stalemate with Democrats in the Legislature over a deal to borrow $41 million to pay the county’s tax-certiorari debts. He also eliminated funding for 41 youth agencies.

In June, Mangano threatened to cut funding to the agencies unless Democrats agreed to give him the three votes he needed to pass the borrowing plan in the Legislature. But Democrats balked, saying they would not approve the plan unless Mangano agreed to what they consider a fair redistricting plan, which would include a series of public hearings before a new 10-year legislative map is finalized in 2013. When the two sides failed to reach an agreement, Mangano pulled an estimated $4 million in funding for the agencies.

The private, nonprofit agencies receive annual contracts with the county. Those contracts, however, can be canceled at any time, with 30 days’ notice.

Wilansky said that he lost two contracts, one for drug-addiction services and one for youth services, each worth $35,000 –– a total cut of $70,000.

In addition, he said, Tempo Group may now lose another $70,000 from the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services because the state matches funds provided by the county. When the county’s money dries up, so does the state’s.