As counties in the lower Hudson Valley deal with escalating costs, with varying degrees of success, Nassau County is so far in debt that it’s considering seeking private equity investors to fund tax refunds to property owners who have been overcharged for many years.
County Executive Edward Mangano is considering private investors as the Democrat-controlled county Legislature refuses to authorize the sales of municipal bonds to pay for the refunds.
Reports say that the state Supreme Court judge overseeing the refund cases is prepared to raise the interest charges on the refunds from 2 and 3 percent, to 9 percent, which appears to have attracted Mangano’s attention.
The county is currently reporting to a state financial control board, similar to the body that oversaw the city of Yonkers finances in the late 1980s.
