The Nassau County voters have spoken. Ed Mangano will return as the Nassau County Executive for the next four years. He fought hard in a tough campaign and stood on his no-new-taxes platform. Apparently that rang a bell with the voters.
We have two concerns that we hope will be high on his list of priorities for the coming term. First we want the county executive to address the issue of the pay raises owed to the police and other county workers.
No budget will be balanced until that issue is addressed. We assume that the county cannot afford retroactive raises. If the courts should order that, it will be a Pyrrhic victory for the unions and could drive the county to bankruptcy. But they deserve raises.
Second, Mangano must repair his relationship with the Nassau Interim Finance Authority. NIFA gives the state control over the county finances and, like it or not. We hope that in the next four years the county’s financial situation to the point that NIFA is no longer necessary.