NIFA Labor counsel paid $925,000; helped negotiate two approved contracts (Updated)

                                                                       

County Executive Bruce Blakeman signs longevity deal alongside union chiefs

                                                                       

A longevity deal negotiated by Nassau Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the county's five major labor unions will cost about $3 million more than the administration estimates, a financial watchdog reported Friday. 

The Office of Legislative Budget Review projects the deal will cost $106.7 million to fund retroactive and future longevity pay increases through 2025, compared to $103.3 million estimated by Blakeman's budget office. The additional payments will be financed through existing budget surpluses.

The county legislature on Monday will considered the proposed agreement,  which would end six years of litigation.

Longevity increases had been suspended in 2011 during a wage freeze imposed by the county's control board, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, and shelved in new 2014 contract agreements. The unions contended the increases resumed when those agreements expired at the end of 2017. The county and NIFA disagreed and the sides have been in court ever since.

But the most interesting part of OLBR's report is not its financial analysis.

Dropped into the report is a note that  NIFA's labor counsel, Gary Dellaverson, has been paid a total $925,000 since being hired by the control board in December 2018 to assist in negotiating county labor agreements.

That's right: $925,000. 

Former Democratic County Executive Laura Curran originally proposed the county hire Dellaverson in mid-2018 to help her negotiate new contracts.

But the legislature's Rules Committee voted unanimously against hiring Dellaverson, arguing his fee was too high.

So NIFA, which is supposed to control county spending, hired Dellaverson for a retainer of $25,000 a month.

Ironically,  Dellaverson -- rejected by county lawmakers because his fee was too high-- is paid by the county through its sales tax. All NIFA costs come off the top of the county's sales tax collections. 

NIFA Chairman Adam Barsky told Newsday when Republicans objected to Dellaverson's hiring: “In my opinion, Mr. Dellaverson is the best at what he does, as a labor attorney and negotiator, and I am very happy that he is part of our team. His fees are in line with what other governmental entities the size and complexity of Nassau County have paid, and are immaterial considering the value of the labor contracts that he will be negotiating.”

Dellaverson had negotiated contracts for New York City, the Port Authority and the MTA, where he worked with Curran's Chief Deputy Helena Williams, a former LIRR president.

Since Dellaverson was hired by NIFA, there have been two county union contracts negotiated and approved by the county, union members and NIFA: The police Detectives Association and the Superior Officers Association, comprising a total 689 members.

The Police Benevolent Association, Corrections Officers Benevolent Association and the Civil Services Employees association, consisting of 5,781 members, have yet to approve any new agreements except for the longevity deal.

But Dellaverson did not participate in the longevity negotiations, according to Budget Review and others involved in the deal. Instead, Blakeman brought in retired New York State Supreme Court Justice Geroge Silver to mediate the dispute. 

So the county has paid nearly a million dollars for Delaverson to help negotiate two approved contracts for about 700 people.

Nice work if you can get it.

UPDATE: A NIFA defender responds that Dellaverson also worked on contracts for the PBA, whose members turned down the deal, as well as tentative agreements with COBA and the CSEA. But as the blog points out, only two of the county's five major unions have reached agreements that have been presented to members and then ratified by them since NIFA hired Dellaverson as "the best" labor attorney and negotiator.

The defender also said that Delaverson worked on the police body camera program, which was approved. Although  PBA members turned down their proposed overall contract, they did agree, in separate memorandum of understanding, to wear body cameras for a $3,000-a-year stipend, beginning in January.