Nassau Notebook: State of the County, Savings Property Assessment Grievances

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

Mangano Optimistic in State of the County Address

Despite having his finances under the control of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said in Monday's State of the County address that his administration is working hard to get Nassau back on track.

"Recovery cannot occur overnight — but it will happen," Mangano said, attributing much of Nassau's financial crisis to those in power before he became county executive. "For too many years, Nassau ignored its future and settled for quick fixes rather than address the real underlying problems. This band-aid approach left our great county on life support."

Democrats, on the other hand, say it is Mangano and his administration that have dug themselves into this financial hole.

"We are being led by a county executive who would rather blame than manage," said the Democratic Minority Leader Diane Yatauro, D-Glen Cove. "County Executive Mangano has blamed the previous administration for bad financial practices and then he boasts about a surplus from that very same budget. You can't have it both ways."

Mangano: County to Save $28M in Assessment Grievances

On Thursday, Mangano said he expected to save Nassau taxpayers an estimated $28 million by the quick settlement of thousands of property assessment grievances.

"This is an important step in the total transformation of the broken property tax assessment system that has pushed Nassau County into fiscal instability," Mangano said.

The county executive explained that Nassau hired Standard Valuation Services, an outside contractor, to help the County Attorney's office settle some 81,262 grievances before they went to court — over 50,000 more than were filed at this time last year. The quick processing of grievances allowed the county to correctly bill Nassau taxpayers for the payments, rather than borrowing money prior to most cases being settled, as had been done in the years before, Mangano said.

The county comptroller's office has not yet reviewed Mangano's numbers, according to office spokesman Jostyn Hernandez, but explained that Comptroller George Maragos is currently auditing the county's assessment system, and will have a report out in the next couple of weeks.