The pandemic has left Nassau County with a staggering budget deficit, but County Executive Laura Curran says she has a plan to try to fix it.

Curran announced Wednesday a $385 million budget shortfall in the county for this year and an additional $364 million for next year - all stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Economist Marty Cantor says the problem in both Nassau and Suffolk is that both are too reliant on sales tax.

"Because of that, they're really at the beck and call of a good economy versus a bad economy and the only thing that will save her is that she has a control board," Cantor says. "They're going to have to lay off some people. They're going to have to cut spending. They're going to refinance some debt."

Curran says one option is to use NIFA to refinance. NIFA oversees the county's finances.

"They could also borrow on our behalf and they have very good ratings so they could get to the market a lot cheaper and a lot sooner than we could get access," says Curran.

Richard Nicolello, the presiding officer of the Republican-led Legislature, released a statement saying, "The County Executive's plan to have NIFA borrow money to fill a budget hole will saddle our children and grandchildren with debt and the expense for maintaining the NIFA bureaucracy for 30 years."

Cantor says if the Republican majority does not approve of using NIFA, "Well you've got to use the B word -- bankruptcy."

Nicolello wouldn't be specific but says the Republicans are "exploring other solutions while they wait for the county executive to come up with another idea."