Maragos: County will end year with $38M surplus

County Comptroller George Maragos reported on Monday that Nassau County is likely to end the year with a $38 million surplus in primary operating funds, although the surplus includes money the county borrowed.

Maragos, a recent Democratic party convert who is also running for county executive, after releasing the year’s audited fiscal results, acknowledged, in a release, that the surplus is mostly due to $105.8 million in borrowing approved by the Nassau County Legislature and the county’s financial control board, the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority.

According to Maragos, “if other financing sources are excluded, under the method prescribed by NIFA,” the county would end up $72.9 million in the hole.

Recurring revenues were lower than budgeted by $82.2 million, but recurring expenses were lower than budgeted by $36.4 million, according to Maragos. Also, he said the county had the potential for a $111.6 million surplus, if not for $72 million in expense transfers to non-primary funds.

In response to Maragos’s statement, Democratic Legislator Laura Curran, of Baldwin — who is also running for county executive, and has been an outspoken critic of Maragos — was blunt, saying that the comptroller must “really think taxpayers are dumb.”

“If he borrowed $100 to pay a $20 bill, he'd expect us to believe he earned an $80 'surplus,” said Curran. “And that's what he's doing now. Borrowed money — which taxpayers will be paying back for years — is not a surplus.”

Maragos added, in his statement, that the county’s administration continues to rely on “unnecessary borrowing.”

“Nevertheless, the fund balance will increase, the structural gap will narrow and the NIFA presentation results will fall below guidelines,” he said. “I urge the County Legislature to use the growing fund balance to restore bus services, increase funding for youth services, reduce fees and lower property taxes, especially for seniors and veterans There is no need for the county to maintain potentially over $274 million in fund balances.”

Adam Barsky, chairman of NIFA, said on Tuesday that the fiscal control board maintains that the county has a deficit, not a surplus.

“Despite Comptroller Maragos's announcement, the facts remain that Nassau County has a $72.9 million deficit based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principals and New York State law,” said Barsky. “Using borrowed money for operating expenses creates GAAP deficits that keep the County in a control period and is one of the leading causes for the county's current fiscal stress. NIFA remains steadfast in requiring the County to eliminate these practices and the deficit to end the state-mandated control period.”