A fiscal control board warned Nassau County, N.Y. to not use reserve funds from its $2.95 billion budget for covering expired tax abatement refunds.
Nassau Interim Finance Authority chairman Adam Barsky said in a Jan. 27 letter to County Executive Ed Mangano and county legislators that expenses need to be cut or revenue increased in order to repay an estimated $7.1 million for senior citizens who lost out on the refunds. The abatement that ended last year was implemented by New York State in 2002 to give tax breaks for Nassau County homeowners aged 65 and older with incomes under $86,000.
NIFA has projected Nassau's 2017 budget gap at $106 million this year when using generally accepted accounting practices that don't factor in proceeds from borrowing as operating revenues. The control board has directed the deficit not exceed $60 million.
"The use of fund balance to pay these refunds or any other operating expense will exacerbate the GAAP deficit," said Barsky in his letter. "If our directive is not followed, NIFA will be forced to impose a budget modification that accomplishes this requirement."
The press office for Mangano did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nassau County Legislative Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves, R-East Meadow, said in a statement, "After forcing the county to overfund its rainy day fund, it is unconscionable that the unelected bureaucrats at NIFA would deny this benefit to vulnerable senior citizens."
NIFA has controlled Nassau County's finances since 2011. The large suburban county on Long Island just outside New York City is rated A2 by Moody's Investors Service.
