Nassau's fiscal watchdog agency is ordering the county to cut nearly $18 million from its 2018 budget plan.

It marks the first time NIFA has ever imposed its own changes to the budget. NIFA officials call the reductions necessary, saying lawmakers are unwilling to identify specific cuts to close the gap in the spending plan.

The county has until Tuesday to make the changes.

As News 12 has reported, the Legislature submitted a spending plan for NIFA's review earlier this fall, but NIFA rejected it, saying that lawmakers needed to plug a $31 million budget hole. Lawmakers had submitted an updated spending plan to NIFA this week.