State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, a Nassau County resident and former assemblyman, weighed in today on the news that a state oversight board has seized control of the county’s finances.

DiNapoli, who ran an unsuccessful camapign for Nassau County executive (he was the party favorite when he lost the 2001 Democratic primary to Tom Suozzi, who subsequently lost to the current executive, Republican Ed Mangano), urged the interested parties “not to focus on the takeover itself, but on the steps necessary to restore fiscal stability to Nassau County.”

“Protracted litigation will only delay the inevitable hard choices that must be made to put Nassau back on solid fiscal ground,” DiNapoli said.

Mangano has threatened to sue NIFA if he made good on its long-standing threat to do what it did today in a 6-0 vote.

DiNapoli went on to lament Nassau County’s “stagnant sales tax revenue” (Mangano tried unsuccessfully to convince the state Legislature to let him increase the sales tax and also proposed a budget that contained some $20 million worth of state aid that never materialized and $61 million worth of what have been deemed “phantom” labor concessions).

“Also, it has been disappointing to see that after more than 10 years, it has been reported the County has not been able to reduce their borrowing for tax certioraris, which is one of the main issues NIFA was designed to assist with,” the comptroller continued.

“It’s just not acceptable to continue down the path of burdening future generations with this growing debt. Nassau taxpayers already pay some of the highest local taxes in the nation. They need and deserve responsible, strong action to restore fiscal responsibility to their county.”

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