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En verdad os digo. Nos os preocupéis, septiembre es el mes cívico e inicia es mes de la herencia hispana, "BAILONGOS POR UN SUEÑO" es el nuevo lema de campaña.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/mangano-warns-up-to-800-layoffs-possible-1.3149505 Mangano warns: Up to 800 layoffs possible.
CELESTE HADRICK / celeste.hadrick@newsday.com
A week before submitting his proposed 2012 budget, Mangano said in an email to all employees that he will eliminate up to 10 percent of Nassau's full-time workforce of about 8,000 if department heads do not find alternative savings and labor unions do not provide concessions. As he did this year, Mangano ruled out any increase in property taxes to cover the shortfall.
Mangano wrote that he wanted employees to understand the "perfect fiscal storm" facing Nassau. He blamed "years of playing kick the can down the road," a broken property assessment system and a bad economy.
"These are the sobering facts," Mangano said in an interview.
Mangano's email came four days after the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state board that controls Nassau's finances, told the Nassau County executive that he needed to offer alternatives for $225 million in risky revenue and savings in next year's budget. "When you take $225 million out, the options become more limited," Mangano said.
According to his email, increased pension and health insurance costs, state mandates and lower sales tax revenue contribute to the projected $310 million gap. Part of the $225 million in risky revenue cited by NIFA -- including $23 million from red light camera fines -- contribute to the gap.
The county legislature's top Democrat, Minority Leader Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove), said Mangano, a Republican, "seems to blame everyone except himself."
Mangano responded, "The only thing you can blame on this administration is cutting taxes. We've cut and reduced the size of government, period."
The county executive said he met with department heads Tuesday, telling them to reduce spending by up to 15 percent. He said he also spoke with all county labor leaders, urging them "to come to the table with voluntary concessions."
While he said that workforce reductions will "clearly" be necessary, the "degree of shared sacrifice rests on whether the administration and labor come together with a concession plan that maintains the strength of our workforce. Failure to work together will result in additioinal layoffs of up to 10 percent of the workforce."
But union leaders say they already have made millions of dollars in concessions.
In July, 128 members of the county's Civil Service Employees Association were laid off. If an additional 10 percent of the county workforce is let go, "I don't think there would be a single department that would function properly," said CSEA president Jerry Laricchiuta. "When you call 911, you want someone to pick up the phone."
Police have been protected from layoffs by contract provisions that expire in December. In 2012, Mangano can lay off officers if an arbitration panel cannot find alternative savings.
Superior Officers Association President Gary Learned said his members supervise the police force and would be able to bump back to lower positions if Mangano proposes layoffs. However, he said, that would require "a tremendous amount of restructuring."
Learned added that Mangano "seems to miss the point that concessions have to be voted on by the [union] membership. . . . If they were going to make concessions, it would have to be part of a total package. So far, we haven't seen much of a package except concessions."
Police Benevolent Association President James Carver said: "Again, Mangano has seen fit to wrongly blame the workers of this county for what NIFA states is his failure to balance the budget. Labor has sat down with the county in the past and we are in the midst of a three-year concession plan that continues to give the county savings for 2011 and beyond. The police officers of this country have lived up to their end of the deal."
