Nassau lawmakers put together new budget plan after NIFA rejection

<p>The Nassau County Legislature has come up with revenue ideas that lawmakers say will plug the $31.5 million budget hole that sunk their previous 2018 budget proposal.</p>

News 12 Staff

Nov 27, 2017, 10:27 PM

Updated 2,561 days ago

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The Nassau County Legislature has come up with revenue ideas that lawmakers say will plug the $31.5 million budget hole that sunk their previous 2018 budget proposal.
As News 12 has reported, the county's fiscal watchdog NIFA rejected the last budget that was submitted on Halloween, and legislators were forced to go back to the drawing board.
Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves says lawmakers plan to save $15 million by reducing money spent on equipment, general expenses, utilities and outside council.
The new plan would also reduce police overtime by $5 million, and Gonsalves says lawmakers had under-estimated sales tax growth in the county, which lawmakers say will yield another $7 million in revenue. The rest, they say, will come from assorted cuts throughout the budget.
"This was a team effort," Gonsalves says. "It's never easy to find money, but if you look hard enough -- guess what, you can find it."
Now it's up to NIFA for review. The agency will next decide whether to accept or reject the latest budget proposal.