Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano announced another round of county job cuts Tuesday amidst an ongoing feud between Republicans and Democrats in the Nassau Legislature.
According to Newsday [paid link], although no timetable has been set on when the layoffs would take place, Nassau budget director Eric Naughton told department officials to prepare lists of positions that can be cut.
In a memo, Naughton called for departments to cut 3.5 percent from their 2012 labor expenses, though he didn't detail the total savings.
The county executive spoke with Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) Chairman Ron Stack Monday with respect to the Legislature's failure to grant Mangano the authority to borrow $41 million to pay for tax refunds from 2011.
"NIFA and I developed a fiscal stabilization plan for Nassau that held the line on property taxes while ending the county's reliance on borrowing," Mangano said Monday before announcing the layoffs. "It's unfortunate that Democrat leaders derailed this plan and put politics ahead of our resident's best interests. Working together, NIFA and I will do all in our power to address today’s actions in a responsible manner while protecting taxpayers."
In regards to the legislature's rejection of the $41 million borrowing plan, Newsday reported:
The vote was 10-9 along party lines. Because borrowing requires 13 votes, three Democrats would have had to join the 10-member GOP majority. Democrats say they won't approve any new borrowing without a legislative redistricting plan that is "fairer" than one that Republicans have proposed.
The most recent round of layoffs comes after Mangano laid off 130 workers in June 2011 and another 260 workers in December 2011.
Meadowbrook Women's Initiative Awards $35,000 in Grants
Meadowbrook Women's Initiative (MWI) awarded grants totaling $35,000 to the Hofstra University Medical School, the Long Island Crisis Center, located in Bellmore, and the LI Head Injury Association, located in Hauppauge, in a ceremony held June 27 at Temple Chaverim in Plainview.
The grants represent an increase of 75 percent over the contributions MWI made in 2010 and 2011. The presentations were followed by the installation of a new president, Barbara Goldstein, of Plainview, with Nassau County Legislator Judy Jacobs (16th LD), of Woodbury, officiating.
All of MWI's donations are locally based. Hofstra's medical school, affiliated with the North Shore/LIJ hospital system, opened in August 2011 and receives an annual grant from MWI; this year's donation of $14,000 will provide a summer scholarship for a student to work in a medical clinic or inner-city hospital that can't afford to pay a salary.
The other two charities change every year, based on nominations by members and vetting by MWI's philanthropy committee. LICC and LIHIA will each receive $10,500.
Further information about MWI's mission and activities can be found on its website.
The first negative premise was: "Because I'm in my 20s, have a last name that ends with a consonant, am not rich, and don't have corporate backing, Nassau County voters are likely to not elect me to public office." You translated that to "He hates Italians," with no basis for doing so. The second negative premise was "Because I don't have friends in high places, I won't get that cushy patronage job." I don't even know how you managed to get a bias claim in there, when Nassau's corruption is such an open secret that you'd have to get paid to ignore it! Now, the real reasons I wouldn't get elected are my youth, my disability status (since I would never run for office without full disclosure, the nature of my disability is likely to be a subject of attack ads), my height (or lack thereof, since people tend to view short men negatively), and most of all, my refusal to lie, distort the truth, or deceive others for personal gain (doesn't go over well with rich campaign donors).
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_hominem http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_cellarium http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Presupposition
I find no fault with any public or private sector employees who do their jobs. What I tried to put forth was how we skew our comments to fit our viewpoint. As i said before over 65% of our income pays for private sector goods and services. Do we complain about the employees in these companies ( think oil corporation or cost of a professional sport game) that their salaries are too high? What we do is blame government or the CEO millionaires. Although we pay an average of 10% or less in school and property taxes, we blame the employees. Should we have lower taxes, of course? Should I be able to pay for fuel for my car or spend less then $100 to take my family to a ballgame, of course. If we continue to argue with each other (we are all strugging middle income families) these at variance issues will not be solved
The phrase "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" was introduced as a way of accusing someone of trying to do something completely impossible. It was a NEGATIVE statement, because back then, people understood that NOBODY gets along in life without getting a hand up from others here and there! Before the 1950s, several generations would live together under the same roof, even after getting married and having kids, and THAT was the norm! This whole nuclear family thing, along with the idea throwing the kids out to survive on their own, didn't really start until the 70s and 80s (even in the 60s, it was usually understood that the kids could return home at some point). Before the nuclear family, "nursing homes" actually provided a MUCH better quality of life than they do now, even without today's advances in medical technology, because THEY CARED MORE! As far as I can tell, most of the damage was done because multigenerational homes were considered "Communist"!
Using the lowest salary as your arguing point does not add to the conversation. On the other end, patronage should be cut, but it never will. Robert hit the nail on the head with the pensions as one of the major costs killing all municipalities, but having public employees kick in for medical coverage would also help. The days of public sector free (or almost free) benefits and fully paid pensions to a longer living populace have to change. It simply is not sustainable. - Employees: Currently, County Ordinance employees hired after January 1, 2002 contribute 5% of the cost of individual coverage and 10% of family coverage. Nassau Community College ordinance employees hired on or after June 1, 2002 contribute 10% of the cost of coverage (both individual and family coverage), No other employees are mandated to contribute toward the cost of health benefits, but employees who choose coverage thru a plan other than the New York State Health Insurance Program (“NYSHIP”) have to contribute the difference in cost between their plan and the NYSHIP plan. Retirees: Under current rules, retirees contribute to the cost of health benefits at the same rate they contributed as employees. http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/Comptroller/Employees/Health/documents/HealthBenefitsGeneralFAQ.pdf
Read it and weep!
Why stay here and complain so much? Don't curse the darkness, light a candle and move to North or South Carolina with all the other malcontents!
ED MANGANO HAS MY VOTE!
Invoking (R) Joe Wilson: "YOU LIE!"
- Scranton, Pa., slashes workers' pay to minimum wage - Unions representing civil servants in Scranton, Pa., filed suit Tuesday after the mayor cut pay for police, firefighters, garbage collectors and other public workers to minimum wage, saying that was all the city could afford. http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/10/12659748-scranton-pa-slashes-workers-pay-to-minimum-wage - Bankruptcy Rarely Offers Easy Answer for Counties - Municipal bankruptcies remain extremely rare, and each of these cases can be viewed as unique, a one-off: Jefferson County was undone by a major sewer project marred by corruption, Harrisburg by borrowing more than it could repay for a disastrous incinerator project, Central Falls by pension problems, and Hamtramck by the woes of the auto industry. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/us/bankruptcy-rarely-offers-easy-answer-for-counties.html?pagewanted=all