(09/22/06) MINEOLA - Red flags rose Friday as Nassau County legislators allegedly tried to give themselves a raise in a suspicious way.

More than $312,000 in unassigned funding was kept in the legislative assistance section of the 2007 budget. Legislator Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) says she struck a deal with her Republican counterparts to use that money to give the legislators their first pay raise in 10 years. If that were true, each legislator would receive $16,400 more per year; a 42 percent increase. Minority Leader Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa), however, says he knows nothing about the purported deal. Schmitt says the next opportunity to legally receive a greater salary is for January of 2008, when the new Legislature is sworn in.

Jacobs says whatever deal had been in place no longer is. The leftover funds will be distributed to social services, the Long Island bus service, and the youth board.