Nassau ended 2022 with a tentative $321 million operating surplus

 

So what does the Nassau Interim Finance Authority do now?

NIFA, the state-appointed Democrat-run board that took control of Nassau's finances in 2011, has continued to insist that the county's financial situation is so dire that NIFA needs to continue to keep a grip on spending even though Nassau ended the last three years with large operating surpluses.

Now, the county's budget office has issued a report that says that Nassau ended last year with a tentative $321.4 million surplus in its major operating funds.

That doesn't include more than $400 million in federal assistance the county banked during the pandemic.

The budget office report still has to be confirmed by outside auditors this June, but it sure looks like Nassau will end up in the black again -- four years in a row.

Yet the NIFA statute allows NIFA to control county finances when there is a one percent deficit or more in its major operating funds.

The county's Office of Management and Budget hides the actual surplus number in its report from casual readers by stating that Nassau ended 2022 with a $21.4 million surplus "after adjustments that transfer 2022 surplus funds to various reserves."

But scroll down to the actual chart of expenses and it says that $300 million was transferred to reserves. Altogether, that makes a $321.4 million surplus.

Last year there was an audited $480 million surplus.

That came after NIFA insisted in early 2021 that Nassau's finances were so fragile that it had to refinance $1.1 billion (billion!) in existing debt to provide the county with an upfront cash infusion -- to ward off a projected $112 million deficit that year.

The refinancing also happened to extends life of NIFA -- created in 2000 -- for another 25 years.

This is a financial watchdog?

Of course there are still some future financial uncertainties.

The national banking system seems very unstable (Signature Bank, one of Nassau's depository banks just went belly-up, though a spokesman for Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman says not to worry, everything is fine.)

There are two large labor contracts that remain unresolved. The county's Civil Service Employees Association and the Correction Officers Benevolent Association have been working without contracts since the end of 2017.

And hinted at in the report is a possible problem with "rents and recoveries." It says those revenues last year were down by $7.7 million.

The problem is that office-building owners across the country are facing hard-times because so few people have returned to in-office work following the governmental-ordered pandemic lockdowns.

There's lots of speculation these days about the rental status of various office buildings on county-owned property, such as Mitchel Field,  that are supposed to be paying the county.

What happens if those revenue-generating office buildings are turned into "affordable housing," as many have proposed?    

Here is the chart noting the $300 million transfer to reserves