Nassau County Notebook: NIFA Declares 'Fiscal Crisis,' Freezes Worker Wages

The following is a look back at some of the top stories in Nassau County over the past week:

NIFA Declares 'Fiscal Crisis'

On Thursday, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority declared a 'fiscal crisis' regarding Nassau County's finances, and ordered a wage freeze for all county employees.

A resolution adopted by NIFA details that the wage freeze is "a less harsh alternative to further layoffs and cuts."

"The magnitude of the statutory and cash deficits facing the county, in spite of the county's best efforts to arrange its fiscal affairs to avoid the imposition of controls, demonstrates that a wage freeze is essential to achieving fiscal balance in 2011," the resolution states.

NIFA's decision to freeze wages came a day after County Executive Ed Mangano announced $181 million in budget cuts, in compliance with the state-watchdog's new accounting rules for the county. Mangano has endorsed the wage freeze, as he has repeatedly spoken out against raising county taxes.

"True cooperation began [March 24] with NIFA answering my call to freeze wages," Mangano said. "I will continue to move forward with a no-property-tax-increase plan to fix Nassau's finances."

But the decision is not sitting well with county unions, many of which have made salary concessions over the past several years.

“We are very disappointed that NIFA decided to freeze the wages of our members. We plan to pursue appropriate legal action against this ruling," said Jerry Larrichiuta, president of CSEA Nassau Local 830, which represents 6,500 county workers. "Our members have given back $40 million over the past four years, and it is clearly not fair to continue to balance the budget on the backs of the CSEA workforce.”

DA Notifies Inmates of Crime Lab Investigation

On Thursday, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced that she sent letters to Nassau corrections inmates, informing them of mistakes made at the county crime lab.

"Since the revelations about the Nassau County crime lab have come to light, we have gone to great lengths to keep the public, defense counsel and now inmates informed of errors at the police lab," Rice said.

The letters were sent to 39 inmates at the Nassau jail in East Meadow, and included contact information for legal counsel.

The crime lab was closed Feb. 18 after it was discovered that several errors were made in analyzing different drugs and maintaining records. An investigation is ongoing.