Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman announced the county ended 2007 with a multi-million dollar surplus, but that does not mean the county will be financially secure in the long run.

Weitzman says the surplus from last year is $24 million, but that amounts to half of what it was the prior year. He says the gap between what the county spends and what it takes in is growing every year.

Some say they are tightening their belts in reaction to news about the economy, which doesn?t bode well for Nassau. The county depends on sales tax revenues for 40 percent of its annual budget.

Nassau officials and Independent Budget Review Director Eric Naughton agree that the county is nearing economic trouble. Executive Tom Suozzi?s administration says it will manage to get through 2008, but 2009 and 2010 are going to be problematic. The administration says a tax hike can't be ruled out.

The county isn?t banking on help from the federal government either. It says the economic stimulus checks due in June won?t make much of a difference in the county?s bottom line.

Suozzi will deliver his annual State of the County address March 11.

To see some of Weitzman?s press conference on Nassau?s budget, go to channel 612 on your iO digital cable box and select iO Extra.