Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi confirmed earlier this week that county residents will be hit with a minimum 20 percent tax increase in 2003 as part of his four-year financial plan to get Nassau back to solid fiscal footing.

Addressing a published report in Newsday last weekend, the county executive acknowledged that his four-year financial plan, which will be released on Monday, April 1, during his state of the county address, has not been finalized. However, part of it will include a tax increase as well as the reduction of the county's workforce by 1,200 by 2003, an initiative he previously made public.

The financial plan is still in draft format and needs a lot more work and the county executive's administration will be working on getting the tax increase that is part of the plan as low as possible, Suozzi said.

The county executive acknowledged that his plan would include a tax increase that will be as low as 20 percent, but could be higher. Suozzi confirmed that, at one time, his plan called for a 34 percent tax increase, before that figure decreased toward the desired 20 percent. "Right now, quite frankly, it is not as low as 20 percent. Our goal is to get it as low as 20 percent," he added. "That's the optimistic side. It will require a lot more hard work."

The Suozzi administration believes a property tax increase is only one avenue needed to close an estimated $428 million budget deficit by 2005. A one percent property tax increase generates only $6 million. A 20 percent tax increase would generate $120 million.

Since Nassau has the highest percentage (16 percent) of its operating budget going toward debt service than any other county in New York State, the revenue achieved through the tax increase would go toward paying off the county's debt.

The Suozzi administration believes a tax increase proposal is a way for taxpayers to bite the bullet in order to get rid of tax certiorari refunds, a looming fiscal drain on Nassau's finances.

According to Suozzi, Nassau has $1 billion in outstanding debt related to tax certiorari refunds. To pay that debt off would require $120 million per year, which Suozzi said would come from the 20 percent tax increase. "The $120 million dollars would be specifically used to pay off what the previous administration left us in this massive tax certiorari problem," he added.

Another $300,000 needed to reduce the budget deficit is expected to be achieved through creative initiatives, efficiencies and cuts such as union concessions Suozzi will be seeking and the reduction of the workforce initiative, which is expected to save $100 million annually.

The good news for Nassau residents is that whatever the tax will be, Suozzi's objective is not to raise taxes again during his term. "People wanted this problem solved," he said, adding that his four-year plan will be a blueprint for how to solve the county's problems "once and for all."

Suozzi said the tax increase for most taxpayers in Nassau will amount to an additional $160 to $200 per year, but the financial problem will be solved.

After being released on April 1, Suozzi's four-year financial plan will be reviewed by the Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA), which can make suggestions. The plan then has to be passed by the Nassau County Legislature by April 22. Since the Democratic caucus owns a 10-9 majority on the legislature, Suozzi needs only to gather support of his fellow Democrats to have his plan passed.

Republican minority leader of the legislature Peter Schmitt called Suozzi's proposal for a tax increase that amounts to at least 20 percent "very disappointing" and "outrageous."

Schmitt said that Nassau residents pay enough taxes and tax increases are not the way to solve the county's problems. "There has to be spending cuts, not tax increases," he said.

Democratic majority leader Judy Jacobs said her caucus would have to review the plan before making a decision on whether to support it. However, she did say she was confident that the Suozzi administration would have looked at all possible means of reducing the deficit, including spending cuts, before putting forth a tax increase. "Whether it's 20 percent or whatever the final figure should be, the important thing to us is that this be arrived at after other items are looked at," she said. "There is no way this [Suozzi] administration is approaching the future years with tax increases. Nobody likes to raise taxes. I believe this administration will show us a plan with more that 75 percent based on cuts, consolidation and changing the way things are being done. The final answer is that you have to have increases in revenue along with everything else you are doing. There is no magic wand."