NIFA Takeover Anniversary
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the takeover of Nassau County’s finances by a state oversight board. The Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) instituted the control period after the county ran an estimated deficit of $176 million in fiscal year 2011.
The Mangano administration attempted to block the takeover through the courts, but eventually dropped the suit and numerous announcements of cutbacks followed, as well as layoffs of union workers.
“I welcome NIFA's oversight, but after one year I don't see much improvement in the county's financial situation and although NIFA has not been enthusiastic of [Mangano's] policies, they have still supported them,” new legislative minority leader Kevan Abrahams, D-Hempstead, said in a statement. “We still face a looming deficit and this administration has yet to propose a clear road map as to how we're getting out of the hole.”
Mangano Backs Cuomo Mandate Relief and Pension Reform Plans
On Monday, New York State Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy joined Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and LIA President and CEO Kevin Law to discuss how Governor Andrew Cuomo's mandate reform proposals will save Long Island taxpayers more than $140 million over the next five years and his pension reform proposal will save $10 to 15 billion over the next 30 years.
According to Mangano, the governor's executive budget closes the current $2 billion budget deficit with no new taxes or new fees. It also proposes sweeping mandate relief and pension reform that will save taxpayers and local governments billions of dollars.
Highlights of the mandate relief plan include:
- Creating a plan for the state to take over 100 percent of the costs of Medicaid growth that will be phased in over three years, saving local governments $1.2 billion over the next five years;
- Creating a pension reform plan that will save state taxpayers and local governments outside New York City $83 billion, and will save New York City $30 billion over the next 30 years
More specifically, Cuomo proposed sweeping structural reforms to relieve local governments of state mandates that drive up local costs, according to a release from Mangano. These reforms, which address the largest cost-drivers for local governments, will help municipal leaders meet the pressures of the prolonged economic downturn, and will help local governments meet the goals of the property tax cap.
"Not only is the governor balancing New York's budget, he is also finally addressing the burden of state-imposed mandates on local municipalities with his mandate relief plan," Mangano said. "His proposal to take over the growth of Medicaid costs for counties is especially welcome news."
Two Women Wanted in Connection with Deception Burglaries
Nassau County Police have issued composite sketches of two unknown women wanted in connection with a series of deception burglaries that are preying on elderly homeowners throughout the county.
The pair, which are believed to be working as a team, are wanted in connection with a series of residential deception burglaries that began in December and have continued through January.
"Reading with the Monsters" Program
Mangano and New York State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg joined Monster Truck Driver Greg Winchenbach and children from the Peninsula Public Library to celebrate after reading more than 4,000 books collectively as part of the "Reading with Monsters" Program. The Nassau Library System and Monster Jam partnered to promote reading amongst children between the ages of 4 and 12 from Nov. 9, 2011 – Jan. 16, 2012. A five-week reading program was offered through 54 libraries within the Nassau Library System.
Five Towns Patch will have full video coverage of the event on Monday. Be sure to check back then.
Your comment on consolidation is true. Affluent areas do hate the idea of pooling money. That's why funding through real estate taxation is unfair for the rest of Nassau. Costs for labor in Nassau is approximately the same across school districts. Yet there is disproportionate income populations supporting labor, mostly un-balanced compensation, through the current taxation scheme. In the North Shore, population densities are lower because incomes are higher and the ability to pay higher taxes is in proportion to income. The ratio of income vs taxation is balanced, despite the higher taxable figures that are reported. However, on the South Shore, incomes are lower and the ratio much more severe. To compensate, the South Shore uses urban style zoning methods to increase population densities to make up the shortfall. Remember, you only have 370,000 households in Nassau supporting a $6 billion/yr education budget. It would be far more equitable to spread educational costs across 832,532 nassau residents and 38,000 businesses, (1,339,532 less 220,000 students, 214,000 seniors over 65 yrs of age, and 73,000 kids under 5), on a sliding scale based on the ability to pay. Consolidation is just one step towards this goal.
We all hope that the teachers and supers do the right thing but these directives from the State are to ensure the educational goals of the students are met and the parents are informed timely of changes.
Could you give me an amount these "unfunded mandates" cost the school? I'm not talking opportunity cost (use of teacher time, superintendent time etc), I'm asking for actual additional dollars spent in Farmingdale for the "Unfunded mandates"? You seem very sure that the School taxes will decrease dramatically if these additional reports were unneeded and I'm just trying to understand your justification for that statement.
I cant give you a figure of what the cost were each district is different but is was over a million. But you have to include teacher time because when a teacher is not in class the district must pay a sub. Go speak to your superintendent for business in farmingdale and he will be able to give you a pretty good number from last year. I never once stated taxes will decrease dramatically but every little it would help. The process of change needs to start somewhere.
If we include seniors over 65 year of age (but a much reduced contributions), you would approve of it? It would be a paradigm shift as school funding will no longer be a real estate taxable item, but income based. I think the equitable distribution of wealth for education funding might even change the make-up of towns, making exclusive neighborhoods more accessible, since those excessive school tax levies would no longer apply. This will cause the blue bloods to run for the hills.
Just to be clear I like your Idea I just don't like the result.
2) Administrators serve at the pleasure of the Board. There is no tenure for administrators. They have a contract.
This thing is going to be like a recipe that will need some fine-tuning here and there. It's never going to be perfect or liked by everyone, but it just might end up being not that bad. As with everything, time will tell.
Attendance record Lesson plan preparation On-the-job conduct Relevant degrees and certifications Effective teaching methods Student progress and achievement Standardized and in-class test results Administrative and peer evaluations Student evaluations Some are pretty straightforward; others, not so much. Everything taken together, however, might provide a clearer picture. Take 'test results', for instance. What might raise a red flag or two here? How about consistent poor results among a majority of the students across all class sessions? The two key words are 'consistent' and 'majority'. This would also apply to student progress and achievement. 'Effective teaching methods' and 'administrative and peer evaluations' tie into one another -- i.e.: The one can determine the other. This can be done over several sessions via in-class observations conducted by specially assigned master teachers and administrators. I'm not an educator, but I believe something like this already takes place with pre-tenured teachers. Finally, and not to be taken lightly, are student evaluations. Oh sure, you're going to get a few wise@sses who will bad-mouth a teacher no matter what, but once again, the two key words -- 'consistent' and 'majority' -- come into play. If a teacher consistently gets bad evaluations from a majority of the students, it should raise a red flag. <cont. on next post>