Nassau County Posts Budget Surplus; Stronger Bond Ratings

By Thomas Nothel

Nassau County has ended 2023 with a surplus of almost $19.6 million –the 5th consecutive year Nassau County had a Surplus – with three bond rating agencies giving the County yet another major bond rating upgrade.

“To have a year-end surplus after retiring more than $400 million in liabilities is an exceptional fiscal accomplishment,” stated Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips. “County Executive Bruce Blakeman and his team are satisfying the County’s liabilities while continuing to maintain healthy financial reserves.”

Nassau County paid down more than $400 million in major liabilities in 2023, meeting all financial obligations including making contributions to pensions and Other Post-Employment Benefits.

The County also paid down reserves, retiring $137 million in tax certiorari liabilities, $70 million in general litigation liabilities, and allocated $ 97 million to pay outstanding bonds.

The County also paid off the remaining balance of almost $30 million in deferred pension contributions, after years of payment deferrals by previous administrations. The County’s pension obligations are now current - for the first time in over a decade.

The Comptroller’s office reported Nassau’s bond ratings remain at their highest levels in more than 30 years.  Standard & Poor’s affirmed their Nassau County “AA rating” and upgraded Nassau’s outlook to “positive.”

Fitch Ratings raised its rating of Nassau from “A+” to “AA with a stable outlook.”

Moody’s upgraded Nassau County’s rating to ”AA2 with a Stable outlook.”

In 2023, the County successfully negotiated new collective bargaining agreements with three employee unions, all of which had all expired in 2018.

As a result, retroactive wages were paid to the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) members, and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and Correction Officers Benevolent Association (COBA) workers. 

“Nassau County has built its reserves to very strong levels, buttressing itself against its financial vulnerabilities,” stated Standard & Poors in its Reprt on Nassau’s bond rating upgrade. “In addition to Improving reserves, the county has also done very well lowering its tax refund and legal liabilities by $553 million, or 42% since 2021, thereby boosting its financial flexibility.”

In light of the solid financial reports, both Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Comptroller Elaine Phillips have called for the closing-down of the NYS “Interim Finance Authority” (NIFA) – a costly and bureaucratic NYS agency created in 2000 in response to the County’s financial distress in the 1990s.

NIFA is administered by a patronage-heavy board of State-appointed directors, and has an expensive staff of bureaucrats.

Over the past several years the County’s finances have improved so dramatically that the County no longer meets the fiscal conditions that would warrant a control period. Nassau’s finances are now far better than those of the New York State government – which appointed NIFA to oversee the County.