NIFA: political attack dog or watchdog?

I was disappointed by the decision of the state’s financial oversight board, the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, to take over Nassau County’s finances.
NIFA was created 11 years ago, as a result of reckless overspending. As you may know, NIFA, a board of six political appointees, voted unanimously in favor of a takeover of county finances.

In the past, NIFA worked cooperatively with former County Executive Tom Suozzi in dealing with the county’s fiscal challenges. However, this past year has seen a dramatic switch in NIFA’s approach. Instead of working with County Executive Ed Mangano, it has chosen instead to leak misleading information to the media and has repeatedly refused to engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue with Mangano and his staff. The board continues to charge that this year’s budget is not balanced, but refuses to tell the county where the shortfalls lie.

Since taking office, Mangano has done nothing but make budget cuts. He had no choice: He inherited a budget deficit of $133 million from his predecessor. In fact, it was Suozzi’s budget that Mangano was operating under in 2010, and not a budget he himself created. At the first opportunity, Mangano cut over $148 million from what he inherited.

Why did Mangano inherit such a tremendous deficit? Years of ignoring a broken assessment system, soaring and out-of-control labor contracts and an $80 million increase in costs associated with social services, employee pensions and employee health care, all compounded by a poor economy, led to a county in crisis.

Yet, instead of raising taxes to cover the deficit, Mangano remains committed to reform. He ran for election on the promise of no more tax increases. He defeated incumbent Suozzi because voters were being taxed out of house and home and they had had enough. Mangano also pledged to do away with the home energy tax that saddled taxpayers with a burden of $60 million a year. He also promised to eliminate unnecessary political patronage jobs. He kept his promises and should be applauded.