Mangano to the rescue?

Throughout his campaign, County Executive Ed Mangano cited the need for reform of Nassau's maligned assessment system. Seven days into his term, Mangano unveiled his plan of action.

"We want to reverse the cycle of indebting future generations," Mangano said.

The plan includes the formation of a volunteer-based Assessment Review Team, which will analyze the current system and explore the possibilities of freezing the tax roll and modifying the current system from annual to cyclical.

The team will be led by Port Washington lawyer Patrick Foye, formerly the chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation and CEO of the United Way of Long Island. Team members will be announced shortly, and the team is expected to report back to Mangano with a coherent plan by June 30.
Mangano said his plan is aimed at improving an error-plagued system that he says is responsible for about 46 percent, or $1.13 billion, of Nassau's debt.

Though Nassau is in the unique position of being the only county in the state to shoulder the entire tax assessment burden, Mangano said he has no intention of shifting all or part of that load to local governments and school districts. He added that the county will likely have to solicit assistance from Albany as well.

See next week's Herald for more on this story.