Mangano looks to improve Nassau’s finances

County Executive Ed Mangano delivered his third State of the County address to a crowd of more than 100 at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City on March 14. In the hour-long speech, Mangano, a Republican from Bethpage, emphasized his pledge to cut property taxes by reducing the size of government, seeking more partnerships with the private sector and fixing the county’s broken property tax assessment system.

“Our first problem is that Nassau is among the highest property-taxed counties in the nation, and these taxes are driving companies and jobs out of New York,” Mangano said. “Plainly put, property taxes are killing jobs and depressing home values.”

According to Mangano, Nassau County entered the 2012 fiscal year facing a $310 million deficit, largely due to rising pension and Medicaid costs and a greater demand for social services.

Mangano, who took office in 2010, replacing eight-year Democratic incumbent Thomas Suozzi, wasted no time in placing blame on the previous regime for the current deficit. “The Legislature and I inherited a decade’s worth of problems, along with several years of projected deficits,” he said.

Mangano lauded several cost-saving initiatives, including a reduction of the county’s payroll by $150 million this year, resulting from the elimination of 110 appointed positions and layoffs of a total of 1,776 employees. “Over the past decade, government has simply grown too large, and we put it on a diet,” he said.

Recently, Mangano’s administration has come under scrutiny as a result of a controversial decision to reduce Nassau County’s eight police precincts to four, which caused an outcry among Democratic legislators and residents alike, who cited the negative effects the plan could have on public safety. It was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, 10-9, earlier this month. But Man-

gano asserted that the plan would not affect public safety, and that the elimination of about 100 desk jobs would save the county $20 million annually.

He praised Republican legislators for passing the plan, and criticized certain Democratic legislators for using “fear-mongering tactics” — one of several backhanded swipes at Democrats.