“The county estimates 90 percent or more of Hurricane Sandy recovery expenses to be covered by the Federal and State government,” Grilli-Robles said. “Hurricane Sandy clearly required thousands of residents to repurchase many lost items. Nassau County has a long way to go as thousands of residents are still struggling to recovery and rebuild their lives.”

Maragos expressed surprise that the county’s sales tax revenue was doing relatively well, while the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis announced on Jan. 30 that the economy’s gross domestic product, a measure of sales of goods and services, contracted 0.1 percent from October through December. Maragos said the numbers surprised many economists who had expected an increase of 1 or 2 percent.