Maragos challenges Weitzman for comptroller

George Maragos, CEO of a financial services business, is challenging two-term incumbent Howard Weitzman in the race for Nassau County comptroller. Maragos said that the county’s finances have been poorly managed for the past eight years, and he believes his experience can bring needed change.

“I know how to run a company,” Maragos said. “I know how to make money, or at least not lose too much in bad years.” That includes establishing strong financial reserves, he said, so an organization is protected when tough financial times hit.

Weitzman, who was first elected in 2001, noted the major financial turnaround from when he first took office and the county was in a state of fiscal disarray. “I’m running on my record,” he said. “I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to achieve over almost the past eight years.”

During that time, Weitzman has audited numerous county departments, including corrections, police, social services and public works, and he said that has produced millions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. He said he also found ways to reduce health care costs without reducing services, such as eliminating coverage duplications for spouses who are both on the county payroll. Additionally, a county employee must now work for 10 years in government, including at least five in Nassau, before the county will pick up lifetime health benefits. Weitzman said that in the past, some people were receiving this perk after only a year as county employees.

He initiated an Rx program that provides free prescription drug discount cards to county residents who have inadequate or no health care. “Now you see governments all over the country copying what we did in Nassau County,” Weitzman said.

Maragos, who is running for public office for the first time, said Weitzman has not done enough to save taxpayers money. He said that the comptroller has great power to influence the budget process because the budget, though it is proposed by the county executive and approved by the Legislature, must be certified by the comptroller, who has a responsibility to speak up if he or she believes financial projections are wrong. “He can send it back to the Legislature,” Maragos said.