Nassau's Budget Surplus for NICE? I think NOT!

[MTA Orion Bus]

The fishiness of the extra money for NICE exposed: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/columnists/joye-brown/county-executive-edward-mangano-s-2015-surplus-claim-doing-the-math-1.11468463

 

For those of you that think Nassau County just saved some of the NICE routes cut in January, they really did nothing. They still really don't care.
 
Article:
 

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s assertion this week of a $45 million surplus for 2015 merits clarification.

First up, there is no surplus.

Not in the traditional sense that revenue was greater than expenses in the county last year — which is supposed to happen under generally accepted accounting principles.

Instead, for Mangano, the calculation went roughly like this:

Revenue

Minus expenses.

Minus savings.

Plus almost $150 million in borrowing previously cited by the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the county’s fiscal control board.

Equals a surplus.

In short, eliminate the borrowing — albeit at levels lower than in past years — and it looks like Nassau may have ended 2015 some $100 million in the red.

And Nassau isn’t the only county grappling with finance problems, as a quick look east shows. This week, Moody’s Investors Service revised its outlook on Suffolk County’s finances from stable to negative because of ongoing short-term borrowing and one-shot revenues to deal with cash flow problems and the county’s own structural deficit.

Which — combined with this week’s reports of slower than anticipated sales tax revenue in Nassau and in Suffolk — amounts to two troubled counties.

So far at least, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, unlike Mangano — who announced Nassau’s surplus during a news conference — isn’t trumpeting similar good news.

In an interview on Friday, Mangano defended the finding of a $45 million surplus.

But he acknowledged that the county would continue to need to borrow, likely through 2018, when Nassau hopes to balance its budget sans significant borrowing for items that should be funded out of pocket as operating expenses.

Or, as a report the county sent to NIFA this week said: “The County acknowledges that it continues to project a deficit by NIFA’s standards, which excludes other financing sources, in each year until 2018. The NIFA control period will likely need to extend through that time, as the County plans to use transitional borrowing to substantially fund tax certiorari refunds and extraordinary judgments and settlements.”

Even with the need for continued borrowing, Mangano said, the county is working to get more savings and secure more revenue. Which will become essential this budget year, since significant 2015 revenue sources were one-shots — that is, revenue unlikely to reoccur.

One permanent — and, frankly, troublesome — savings in 2015 was Nassau’s elimination of its annual subsidy to Nassau University Medical Center, a $13 million payment that fell to the county’s hungry bottom line.

George Maragos, Nassau’s comptroller, has yet to close last year’s books. And the county’s report to NIFA went largely unanswered this week — because Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has yet to appoint a replacement for former chairman Jon Kaiman, who stepped down to run for Congress.

“The staffs are continuing to talk to each other and work together,” Mangano said. “We will have to wait and see which direction a new chairman will take.”

One thing seems certain, however, at least through 2018.

NIFA — like the county’s deficits — isn’t going away anytime soon.

 

tl;dr: It's not really a surplus, just leftover borrowed money from the state. So, in essence, Nassau County spent all the borrowed money it wanted, and there just happened to be some leftover. Without this borrowed money, Nassau County would be in the red ~$100 million. You can thank the state once again for bailing out the county's mess.

 

And for those of you who are looking for more dirt on Mangano. There's a possibility he's been keeping "busy" lately: https://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=dC4dgOKCjbY2mEMqhXCzSVOlmfbcM

 

What a corrupt Nassau government!

[NY1635]

It gets weirder, keep your eye out on Newsday because there's now word of sexual allegations involved with County executive.

[MTA Orion Bus]

It gets weirder, keep your eye out on Newsday because there's now word of sexual allegations involved with County executive.

All I currently see is the news similar to the link I posted and that it started an investigation, but I will definitely keep my eye out on Newsday. Thanks!

[DetSMART45]

I *knew* there was something fishy going on.

 

That's why I questioned it in the other thread after looking at NIFA's activities.  You can't just get a sky-high pile of cash when the budgeting authority has just told you the budget has underfunding in it.

 

The tragedy of it all is that the average riders/taxpayers aren't like in past years pre-internet when more of them would see this reporting because they read newspapers daily, and the newspapers were more vigorous in their local coverage to make sure word got out.

 

I'd also like to know exactly what that $15 million went to Transdev for.  Maybe someone could tip-off Newsday to start digging on that.  It's well known it wasn't for more bus maintenance.

[NY1635]

All I currently see is the news similar to the link I posted and that it started an investigation, but I will definitely keep my eye out on Newsday. Thanks!

I'm referring to this

 

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/ed-mangano-sexual-texts-complaintbeing-investigated-1.11469880

[DetSMART45]

As a sidenote on the sexting scandal:

"Spoofing" doesn't work too well with today's mobile phones and data encryption.  Most spoofing that goes on is in the "swatting" phenomenon, by using VOIP-based services.  iPhone texting is pretty much bulletproof, since the Feds want Apple to turn over algorithms so they can see what people are doing, and Apple has told them NO over and over again.

 

If Eddie has an old flip-phone for county business (highly unlikely), I could see someone possibly doing this.  But, like the WCBS ex-FBI guy said, if there's a back-and-forth conversation going on, that's not characteristic of a "hacker".

[DS4Ever]

I tell you that Mangano guy is a douche and a corrupt

 

Saying that he had to eliminate bus route because of and i quote Budget Cuts

 

I guess he's more of a car person than a bus person he in his life always rode on a car like a princess he is...he don't care of the rest but himself and dont care if you get stranded. ..he'll tell you then wake up early cause he looks a geeky early Bird type of guy or call a family member

 

NICE is turning more like PART buses of Putnam County or Dutchess Loop...those bus companies have severe shortage network and low amount of buses even departing every two hours and end too early

 

The best for NICE to do and i'm not just saying cause im overzealous but is for the best...to return home with the MTA

[MTA Orion Bus]

I also want to say, again, that I wish this money would go towards maintenance and care of the rest of the system resources instead of bringing back low-ridership routes.

 

I'm referring to this

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/ed-mangano-sexual-texts-complaintbeing-investigated-1.11469880

Yeah, that Google News link lists that article there as well.

 

iPhone texting is pretty much bulletproof, since the Feds want Apple to turn over algorithms so they can see what people are doing, and Apple has told them NO over and over again.

I just wanna clarify that you mean iMessage messages and not regular text messages sent from an iPhone. Though I don't have an iPhone (Android), I keep it encrypted for similar security purposes.

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

I tell you that Mangano guy is a douche and a corrupt

 

Saying that he had to eliminate bus route because of and i quote Budget Cuts

 

I guess he's more of a car person than a bus person he in his life always rode on a car like a princess he is...he don't care of the rest but himself and dont care if you get stranded. ..he'll tell you then wake up early cause he looks a geeky early Bird type of guy or call a family member

 

NICE is turning more like PART buses of Putnam County or Dutchess Loop...those bus companies have severe shortage network and low amount of buses even departing every two hours and end too early

 

The best for NICE to do and i'm not just saying cause im overzealous but is for the best...to return home with the MTA

I'll give you PART, but not Dutchess Loop as a comparison. Dutchess county is even more rural than Nassau. Most of its rural communities are served, and said communities are have even more service than "suburban" communities, and even later service than some of those "suburban" communities. For connectivity, Dutchess Loop does a pretty good job, and they've also added two new bus routes, in addition to a seasonal trolley route in partnership with PART during the summer, and expanded concert/game services to either Dutchess Stadium or the Fairgrounds. Their commuter services also do much better than NICE's, because they're included into the Metro-North fare (for monthly tickets I believe). The only concern is that they don't run on Sundays. However, they're expanding service on a consistent basis, so some day they might run Sunday service.

[checkmatechamp13]

I don't think NICE will ever get to the point where it's like PART or Dutchess LOOP. Neither of those agencies have routes like the n4, n6, or n40/41 where buses get SRO despite running every few minutes. Nassau is simply much more dense than Putnam or Dutchess County, and so the level of service it can sustain will always (unless those counties see a huge amount of development, or Nassau loses a ridiculous amount of population) be greater.

 

It's a reasonable statement to say that Dutchess & PART do more with their limited resources (including the ridership and farebox revenue to sustain their routes) than NICE does, but let's not get carried away.

[Joel Up Front]

I have never been able to stomach Joye Brown's writing or articles.  It pisses me off.  I have never been able to stomach Mango, either, but guess who actually posted a comment?

[B35 via Church]

PART? LOOP? A slightly better comparison would have been TOR, but I don't even see things in Nassau getting that bad....

 

Nassau's too urban; far too many patrons seeking (bus) service to Jamaica..... There's a ton of reverse commuting that goes on b/w Nassau & Queens that some on this forum may not realize the extent of.... I'll be honest & say that before I started working out there, I didn't think the reverse commute was so serious (in terms of quantity, I mean).... I mean I knew about the n6's loads, but was unaware of as many ppl. taking 22's & 24's to Mineola (for the 40/41, mainly) & points east.... I don't even need to mention the RR (but I think crowded trains on the main line [huntington/ronkonkoma] are a direct result of the MTA pandering to the collective asses of those that reside along/around the Babylon line).... That line is severely overserved!

 

Anyway, Whenever I hear of any entity recording any type of surplus, I immediately react with a side-eye & a "yeah right" type of initial response.... Money does not grow from trees, nor does it fall from the damn sky.......

[DS4Ever]

Forgot to mention TOR

 

If Nassau is more dense and urban than its residents should be more exposed to public transportation than cars

 

Take for example the n73 was an historic route to pass through famous Levittown. ..would've been better to omit the loop and go straight down Jerusalem. ..the n80/81 elimination left many to walk three times to another bus route

 

The elimination of the n14 n62 was ok since its loop was useless since its areas are within walking distance to a morr greater bus service coverage. ..but the n2, n46, n50, n73 and n81...these routes should by far be revived. ..i would sadly disregard the n19 since the s20 took part of that service ...the n51 ismuch of a debate since it passes through gleen Curtis area...but if ythe n24 receives low ridership then reviving the n51 is at low pro

[MTA Orion Bus]

I have never been able to stomach Joye Brown's writing or articles.  It pisses me off.  I have never been able to stomach Mango, either, but guess who actually posted a comment?

LOL. For those who didn't see it: http://on.fb.me/1Vf3dqD

 

[N6 Limited]

Lol!

[DetSMART45]

Gave it a week or so, and checked the Google News for Eddie updates.  Low and behold, Newsday has a story that Eddie made claims at his press conference that have never been formally filed/followed-up on.  Police say no formal complaint has been filed, and the DA's office said they haven't been formally asked to help.  Doesn't sound like someone who feels they've been wronged if no formal complaint has been filed.

 

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/mangano-text-case-had-no-formal-criminal-complaint-sources-say-1.11487577