It's time for compromise and concessions

It’s no secret that Nassau County is going through a rough fiscal period. The county faces an estimated $310 million deficit in 2012. County Executive Ed Mangano is still paying for the previous administrations’ unaffordable labor contracts, the assessment system is broken and the global recession has hit everyone, including Nassau County.

Now is not the time for business as usual.

Contractual obligations with some of the county’s public employee unions are a major part of the problem, and if they want to be satisfied with the solution, they must work with Mangano to address decades of structural imbalance in the delivery of government services.

The largest percentage of the county’s deficit comes from compensation increases that were put in place by the previous administration and have made county workers eligible for benefits that, according to Mangano, “have become out of line with other municipalities and the private sector.”

According to county statistics, county employees’ current contractual guarantees, which include an annual salary increase, longevity pay and free health insurance, were “projected to exceed the consumer price index by over $500 million.”

Many of you may have also heard of a mindless and frivolous clause called Education Pay. This clause was included in the current contract and gives county employees a $600 education stipend, even if they don’t advance their education. This amount is set to more than double by the time the current contracts ends. Imagine working in the private sector and receiving a $1,200 raise every year without increasing your education level.

These statistics don’t even include overtime compensation.

Since taking office, Mangano has been committed to cutting waste. His 2011 budget cut over $171 million in spending, reduced the county work force to its lowest level since the 1950s, consolidated functions and eliminated a 16.5 percent property tax increase.