Beginning on July 12, the Budget Review Committee, chaired by Legislator Lisanne Altmann, began its second set of quarterly hearings on the Nassau County budget. These hearings are part of the budget reforms enacted last year. Their goal is to require the various departments and agencies in the county to describe whether their spending for the current fiscal year is on course and to explain any variances that could translate into an unbalanced budget by the end of the year. These hearings are even more important now in light of the establishment of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, or NIFA, because unanticipated spending leading to an unanticipated deficit will bring on to Nassau County the full weight of a financial control board. The net effect of such a control board would be to greatly diminish the progress toward a more responsive county government that was ushered in by the changes in the County Charter in 1995, including the establishment of the Nassau County Legislature itself.

A key element in keeping the budget projections on track is the controlling of overtime expenses. There is a potential tension between achieving this goal and, at the same time, reducing the county workforce through attrition. As revealed in the preparation for these quarterly budget hearings, the success thus far has been mixed. Overtime in the police department is $8 million less than was budgeted for in the current fiscal year, but it is necessary to determine whether the initiatives that helped to produce this overtime reduction can be sustained for the remainder of the current fiscal year and beyond. With respect to the Correctional Center, overtime is on track to decline in the current year by $5.5 million when compared to the previous year. That's the good news. The bad news is that overtime for the Correctional Center is also on track to come in almost $6 million more than was budgeted for in the current year. One of the goals of these hearings is to ask why did this occur and what can be done to further improve the situation. Similar questions must be answered by the Fire Commission, where overtime spending in the first six months has already exceeded the amount that was allocated in the budget for overtime for the entire current fiscal year.

What is most important as we engage in these budget hearings is for the stage to be set for avoiding end of the year surprises that would come in a time frame that would make it impossible to correct them. So, although the news is not everything we might want to hear, it is better to hear it now when there is the possibility that something can be done to fix it. And, by exerting more pressure for fiscal discipline, these hearings are an important step in restoring confidence in Nassau County's ability to hold the line on the bottom line.