Great Neck’s Rory Lancman was appointed as vice chair of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a role as watch dog for county finances that he says he is ready to take on.

“It’s a huge responsibility that I take very seriously,” Lancman said.

The Nassau Interim Finance Authority, otherwise known as NIFA, is a New York State public benefit corporation that oversees the county’s finances. It was implemented in 2000 in response to the county’s financial issues.

“Anything that I can do to make sure that doesn’t happen again is something that I take very seriously,” Lancman said.

For any financial decision using taxpayer money taken by the county, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority is tasked with approving it.

Lancman is a former state assemblyman for the 25th District in Eastern Queens, serving from 2007-2012, and former New York City Council member for Eastern Queens from 2014-2020. In 2020 he worked under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo as special counsel for ratepayer protection.

Lancman, a practicing attorney, also was the executive director for the Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority. He now serves as the Great Neck Library board president.

This will be Lancman’s introduction to working for the Nassau Interim Finance Authority.  He attributed his appointment by the governor to two factors: his experience in government with a focus on accountability and finances as well as his knowledge of Long Island government.

Lancman said his responsibilities will include working alongside Chairman Richard Kessel to conduct oversight of the county’s finances and to help lead the Nassau Interim Finance Authority.

The board’s responsibilities include approving the county’s budget, borrowing and contracts.

These actions cover county projects and the associated expenses that many people read about in the news, Lancman said, including the Nassau University Medical Center amid financial hardship, legal expenses for the county’s transgender athlete ban and its multiple lawsuits, the suit against the state’s even-year elections and costs for the emergency special deputy sheriff program commonly referred to as Blakeman’s militia.

“NIFA is the public’s watchdog without which the county could quickly revert to its old bad habits and drive us off a fiscal cliff like it almost went a quarter of a century ago,” Lancman said.