Former NYC budget director leaving Nassau County finance post

Mark Page, who was tapped to help Long Island’s Nassau County tackle mounting tax settlement debt, is retiring at the of the year.

Page, who held top posts in New York City’s budget office for four decades, began his role as Nassau’s deputy county executive for finance on Jan. 1 and in November helped advance plans for $100 million of borrowing to fund a portion of $360 million in owed taxpayer refunds claims.

ARTIE RASLICH

The former budget director under former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will remain as a special advisor to the county next year as it gears up to issue another $200 million of bonds to fund a backlog of tax claims. He has also spearheaded Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s efforts to create a more fair tax assessment process aimed at creating less risk of future grievances.

“He has been at the forefront of my efforts to reform the costly and corrupted assessment roll,” Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said in a statement. “I thank Mark for helping me to navigate the difficult financial situation left behind by the prior administration without sacrificing services to our residents.”

Prior to joining the Bloomberg administration in 2002, Page was general counsel of New York City’s Office of Management and Budget. He previously held executive director roles with the New York City Transitional Finance Authority and the New York City Municipal Water Authority.

Page will be replaced by his top deputy, Raymond Orlando, who previously worked at the New York City OMB for 14 years and rose to the role of first deputy budget director. Orlando also spent four years as chief financial officer for the New York City Department of Education.

“Ray will no doubt follow the same playbook that has begun to lead Nassau County toward fixing the fiscal mess inherited by my administration,” said Curran.

Page was unavailable for comment on his retirement. Since 2015 he has been a consultant to the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state fiscal control board that has controlled county finances since 2011. NIFA approved Nassau’s $100 million borrowing plans to fund outstanding tax refunds and a $3.5 billion 2019 budget during its last meeting on Nov. 27.

Nassau County issued $169 million of general improvement bonds in a competitive offering won by Jefferies LLC Wednesday to fund taxpayer refunds and capital improvement projects. New York State’s sixth-most-populous county has ratings of A2 from Moody’s Investors Service, A from Fitch Ratings and A-plus from S&P Global Ratings.