Nassau County Executive Laura Curran today submitted the County’s proposed $3.286 billion 2021 budget and proposed 2021-2024 multi-year financial plan. The proposed plan follows through on the three core objectives County Executive Curran set in her State of the County 2020 address: maintaining fiscal discipline, providing a no property tax increase budget, and ensuring adequate resources for the Department of Health, law enforcement and first responders to maintain public health and safety.
County Executive Curran has balanced the proposed budget with targeted cuts and the restructuring of debt through the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority (NIFA), while maintaining critical social services and protecting the County workforce from layoffs. The proposed budget also increases funding for vital public safety and public health priorities, such as the expansion of Nassau’s Problem-Oriented Police Unit, the Community Affairs Unit, the Mental Health Mobile Care Crisis Team, and the Police Activity League.
“The pandemic has plunged Nassau and other local economies into a steep and unprecedented financial crisis, and my budget reflects this emergency. Today, I’m proposing a responsible plan that will keep Nassau safe, healthy, and strong as we continue to navigate stormy waters. With shared commitment and the resilient spirit Nassau residents have demonstrated throughout this crisis, I’m confident we’ll emerge stronger in the years ahead,” said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting worldwide economic crisis, the County’s finances were strong. The County was poised this year to emerge from the control period NIFA imposed in 2011, as the County ended 2019 with a surplus of $76.8 million as measured by NIFA. The Curran Administration’s fiscal discipline has thus far allowed the County to maintain services and staffing levels throughout the crisis.
To preserve essential services to County residents and keep the County workforce at necessary levels, the budget includes $285 million in savings from NIFA’s restructuring of outstanding NIFA and County bonds maturing in 2021, while the multi-year financial plan adds $150 million of restructuring savings in 2022. In addition to efficiencies from having only one transaction, a combined restructuring would produce the best financial results for the County due to current low interest rates and future economic uncertainty. This approach would also generate potential resources for future labor costs as identified in the proposed budget and multi-year financial plan. Thus, the declaration of need to NIFA for the restructuring that the County Executive filed for legislative approval covers both 2021 and 2022 restructured debt, which also requests that NIFA refund other County bonds for present value savings.
“Restructuring bonds would not be necessary or justifiable in an ordinary year. Extraordinary times as these, however, call for this extraordinary, yet targeted and appropriate, measures,” said County Executive Curran.
Despite a projected 2020 mid-year deficit of $385 million due to the pandemic’s unprecedented impacts on sales tax (and other revenues) and emergency-related expenses, the County projects that it will end this year in budgetary balance. The 2020 gap-closing plan combines the use of $112 million of fund balance, $103 million of federal CARES Act funding, $75 million from NIFA debt extension, $25 million in expense controls, $38 million in dedicated monies to fund litigation and workers’ compensation expenses and $32 million from the close out of completed or abandoned capital projects.
“Our fiscal integrity over the past two years has paid off, allowing the County to weather an unprecedented financial crisis, while maintaining services and staffing levels – and still projecting to end 2020 with a balanced budget,” noted County Executive Curran.
