Suozzi and Nassau County officials join forces to respond to National Fiscal Crisis

 Suozzi, Weitzman, Rice, O’Connell, Yatauro, and Bi-partisan Legislators vow to work as a team to tackle Nassau’s 2009 budget gap

Nassau County is not exempt from the national trend of economic turmoil. Counties all across the state are being forced to make tough choices. County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi, Comptroller Howard Weitzman, District Attorney Kathleen Rice, County Clerk Maureen O’Connell, Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro, Democratic Legislators David Denenberg, David Mejias, Jeff Toback, Wayne Wink and Republican Denise Ford today announced their intention to take action to address Nassau’s budget woes for 2009.

“Despite keeping overall spending below the rate of inflation and lower than the rate of any other municipality in the region- less than 3% over the past six years- costs out of the County’s control continue to rise.  The County is feeling the pains of the national economic downturn that has caused fuel costs to rise and a troubled wall street, which has caused sales taxes to decline from historic levels.  Nassau is also anticipating budget cuts from the state level,” said Suozzi

Suozzi cited his Administration’s successes: “Nassau has balanced every single County budget, created surpluses every year, and received a historic 13 bond upgrades in the past six years. Nassau changed the pattern of union bargaining, reduced the workforce to its smallest in 30 years, and cut borrowing in half.  Nassau County is the only county in New York State to hold the line on property taxes for five years in a row,” said Suozzi

“You don’t need a weatherman to tell you there are storm clouds over Nassau County,” said Comptroller Weitzman.

Despite all of this, Nassau County is not immune from the downturn in the national economy. With no new property taxes, declining sales taxes, and the failure of the state to deliver on legislative items, revenues in Nassau County have not made up for budget increases, even though the increases were less than the rate of inflation. 

The 2009 budget will be issued in September and Suozzi, Weitzman, Rice, O’Connell, Yatauro, and the Legislators will work in partnership to close the budget gap.