Mangano Delivers State of the County, Suozzi Responds

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano tackled issues of employment, property taxes and hurricane recovery in his State of the County address Wednesday night.

Speaking at Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage, Mangano boasted about the changes his administration made after inheriting a "broken Nassau County."

Click hear to read the rest of what Mangano had to say and to see a video of the address.

Suozzi Responds to Mangano's 'State of the County' Address

The following is from county executive Democratic nominee Tom Suozzi:

Under Ed Mangano, Nassau County has been mired in reckless mismanagement and constant fiscal crisis. Furthermore, Mangano has presented no vision for our future and continues to rely on borrowing to the detriment of future generations.

Superstorm Sandy federal-aid funds, which are vital to our residents, must not be used to mask Mangano's borrowing and fiscal irresponsibility.

We learned yesterday that Nassau County will receive from the federal government $880 million to reimburse the county for Sandy-related expenses, to rebuild critical infrastructure and to assist homeowners and businesses to rebuild.

These dollars must be segregated from county operating funds to insure that the Mangano administration does not:

1. Use the funds to mask actual operating deficits;
2. To obscure actual costs and actual revenues;
3. To manipulate funds designated for future projects to enhance its 2012 year end deficit;
4. To run these funds through the capital budget backcharges to manipulate actual operating expenses or;
5. Use the funds to hide cash flow shortfalls.

This administration is prone to accounting mischief and budgetary shenanigans, and NIFA and the state and county comptroller should demand that these funds not be commingled with the county's general operating funds.

These funds should be segregated so that Mangano and his cronies don't try to use them to cover Mangano's borrowing and mismanagement. The money needs to be managed through a separate entity. We must hold Mangano accountable and demand transparency.

[The] $1 billion in federal funds that our residents and local businesses desperately need to get their lives back cannot be used by Mangano to paper over his failed budgetary practices.

Nassau County Courthouse Evacuated Swiftly and Safely

The members of the Court Officers Benevolent Association of Nassau County are trained to protect and serve those using the Nassau County courts system -- that training was put to the test on March 11 when an anonymous caller phoned 9-1-1 with a bomb threat to the Nassau County District Courthouse, located at 99 Main St. in Hempstead.

Putting their own safety aside, the COBANC court officers safely evacuated more than 1,200 people inside the courthouse. Once the evacuation was complete, the officers remained inside the building and conducted a thorough and extensive search of the entire courthouse, looking for suspicious packages and anything out of the ordinary.

Once it was determined that there was no real threat, the COBANC court officers allowed everyone to re-enter the courthouse and normal activity was resumed.

County Announces Centers for Sandy Victims to Pre-Register Saturday

County Executive Mangano announced Thursday that Nassau County and New York State will again host a pre-registration assistance program this Saturday at four Nassau County Disaster Recovery Centers for Superstorm Sandy victims.

The implementation of the three New York State programs, administered by Nassau County, has been moving forward with the understanding that funds, although approved by the United States Congress, are still not yet available and details of the programs are still being developed and may change before a final version of the programs are released. 

All residents are encouraged to visit www.NYSANDYHELP.NY.gov to begin the pre-application process.  New York State and Nassau County are also manning Disaster Recovery Centers to assist applicants from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on March 16 at the following locations:

• Long Beach Recreation Center and Ice arena, 700 Magnolia Blvd., Long Beach
• Sacred Heart Parish (Island Park Railroad Station), 127 Long Beach Road, Island Park
• Cedar Creek Park, Merrick Road, Seaford
• Freeport Recreation Center, 130 East Merrick Road, Freeport