Politics & Government

War of Words as Nassau Announces 2012 Finances

A weekly look-in at the news of Nassau County.

This story was written by Matthew Hogan. It was posted by Jason Molinet.

Nassau Republicans and Democrats are at it again this week after the release of the county’s 2012 unaudited fiscal results

Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos released the Nassau’s 2012 year-end unaudited results Wednesday and reported that the county is expected to end with a budgetary surplus of $41.6 million.

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Maragos said that these results include $9.7 million in unanticipated costs representing the county’s 10-percent portion of Hurricane Sandy related expenditures. The 90 percent remaining balance of eligible county Hurricane Sandy expenditures is expected to be reimbursed by FEMA as a result of the recent Presidential Declaration, Maragos said.

But the comptroller’s opponent in the upcoming November election — Democratic candidate Howard Weitzman — said the numbers given by Maragos are not what they appear to be.

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“Ed Mangano’s administration has mismanaged this county’s finances and George Maragos is misleading the voters with inaccurate financial statements to cover his tracks,” said Weitzman, who held comptroller position when Tom Suozzi was county executive. “Mangano’s administration can no longer mislead voters by borrowing billions for short-term gain, pushing bills onto future generations, ignoring potential liabilities that the county is legally-required to pay, and then pretending to have a surplus.”

Maragos said that for the second consecutive year since the Nassau Finance Interim Authority (NIFA) was created in 2001, NIFA also requires the county to report its financial results on a basis that excludes other financing sources.

Under the NIFA prescribed presentation method, Maragos said the county is expected to end 2012 with a negative $85.5 million result, which is a 54 percent improvement compared to the negative $184.3 million recorded in 2009, the final year of Suozzi’s administration.

Maragos Announces Candidacy for Re-Election as Nassau Comptroller

Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos officially announced his bid for re-election Wednesday night at a fundraiser. Maragos spoke of his record of accomplishments as comptroller and outlined his vision for the next four years.

Maragos insisted during his speech that the county cannot afford to return to the tax and spend policies of the Suozzi-Weitzman Administration, who together, the comptroller said, nearly bankrupted the county by leaving behind a $250 million structural deficit, depleted reserves, accumulated more than $3 billion in debt and left a broken Assessment System that paid out $115 million in tax refunds to attorney firms.

Blacks More Often Arrested in Nassau for Carrying Pot, Study Finds

Police were 3.57 times more likely to arrest blacks for marijuana possession in 2010 in Nassau County, a new study by the American Civil Liberties Union showed, though the region was in no way the highest in the state when it comes to racial disparities in pot arrests.

Click here to read more on the study.

Spills Reported

Thirty gallons of 'digested sludge' spilled onto the ground at the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant Tuesday morning.

Over at the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant in Wantagh, more than 150 gallons of partially treated wastewater spilled onto the roadway Monday.

First Precinct to Remain Intact

The Nassau County First Precinct will be remaining intact for “the immediate future.”

This was the message conveyed by Nassau County Police Chief of Department Steven Skrynecki to a local civic association earlier this week. For more on this story, click here.

West Shore Road Reopens

Seven months after Hurricane Sandy tore down West Shore Road and cut off Bayville's main connection to Oyster Bay, the road has officially reopened.

Click here to read more and for video of the reopening.


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