By my accounting, Mangano's an unqualified success

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Mangano sees things differently. Through the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, he has implemented several successful public/private partnerships that have saved taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. He privatized our bus services and inmate health care services at the Nassau County Correctional Center. Initiatives such as these are closing the county’s budget gap.

So far, Mangano has slashed the deficit of over $300 million he inherited from the Suozzi administration. On his first day as county executive, Mangano repealed Suozzi’s home energy tax, which would have charged taxpayers every time they turned on a light switch.

Mangano also has the wherewithal to withstand pressure to increase spending. These continue to be tough economic times, especially when you add the unexpected costs of Superstorm Sandy last year.

Overall, for fiscal year 2014, spending will be down $1.2 million compared with last year. County Comptroller George Maragos recently announced that he expects Nassau to end this year with a $5.6 million cash surplus.

For three years, Mangano has made the tough decisions that put our county on a stable path to the future, and it’s paying off. Holding the line on property taxes and eliminating the home energy tax has saved county taxpayers $495 million.

He has accomplished this while battling the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority. The state-mandated board, which is controlled by Democrats, has done everything in its power to impede Mangano’s efforts to get the county back on a fiscally sound track.

He is a tenacious leader who does the right thing and fights hard for the people of Nassau County. Under his leadership, the county has made a real turn-around. In just a few short years, the Coliseum will be returned to its glory.

I just want to say thank you, Ed Mangano, not only for holding the line on property taxes, but also for making it an exciting time to live and raise a family in Nassau County once again.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.

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