Nassau County, N.Y. lawmakers proceeded with amendments to a $2.9 billion budget that faces opposition from the county's fiscal control board.
Nassau Interim Finance Authority Chairman Adam Barsky warned in a Nov. 16 letter that the spending plan would be rejected if the legislature moved ahead with plans to plug a $36 million budget shortfall with revenue from a business amnesty program. The legislature narrowly approved the amnesty program amendment Monday, as well as a $55 traffic ticket surcharge, in an effort to address the county's budget gap.
Barsky, who will lead a Nov. 29 NIFA meeting, said in the letter last week that the board will reject the budget if it includes the business amnesty program revenue and impose its own cuts. He emphasized that if directives are not "immediately implemented," NIFA will reject all borrowing requests for the 2017 fiscal year.
Barsky declined to comment Tuesday beyond his letter.
NIFA has controlled Nassau County's finances since 2011. It initially rejected last year's $2.95 billion spending plan because it contained $81.3 million in uncertain budget assumptions.
Nassau County is rated A2 by Moody's Investors Service. The suburban county is directly east of New York City and has a population of 1.3 million.
