The Lie:
County Executive Bruce Blakeman lies when he says Nassau County no longer needs financial oversight by the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority (NIFA).
Why You May Believe the Lie:
Touting budget surpluses, Blakeman has called for ending NIFA’s oversight of the County’s finances.
The Truth:
NIFA had to force Blakeman to comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when he proposed his illegal $4.2 billion budget for 2025, riddled with serious risks. NIFA was created to address Nassau’s fiscal mismanagement largely due to increasing tax assessment appeals in the 1990s when the County nearly went bankrupt. That problem remains today even though Blakeman promised to fix the County’s broken assessment system.
Action You Can Take:
- Share this post on your social media and email and discuss it with your friends.
- Contact Blakeman and ask him why he hasn’t kept his promise to fix the tax assessment system – via email at nassaucountyny.gov/481/County-Executive, or call Blakeman at 516-571-6000 or 516-571-3131 – prompt 5, then “other”.
Source & Additional Media:
- News 12 Long Island: Semder, K. (2024/06/17), “Nassau County reports budget surplus again, wants end of NIFA control over finances”
- Newsday: Ostadan, B. (2024/12/19), “NIFA board approves $4.2B Nassau County budget for 2025”
- NIFA: Executive Report (2024/10/22), “Nassau County Interim Finance Authority: Review of Nassau County’s Proposed Multi-Year Financial Plan Fiscal 2025 – 2028”
- NIFA: “What We Do”
- Wikipedia: “Nassau Interim Finance Authority”
- Politics NY: Formisano, N. (2024/10/29), ” ‘Major Risks’ in 2025 Nassau Budget, NIFA Report Says”
- Long Island Herald: Malaszczyk, M. (2024/02/16), “Nassau County tax assessments remain frozen”
- Long Island Press: Bonfigli0, B. (2021/11/16), “Blakeman Unseats Nassau Exec Curran in Official Vote Count”
