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You're listening to the voice of Nassau Community College 90.3 WHPC.
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My name is Bill McIntyre, and it's time for this
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week's Long Island News, the show that talks to newsmakers
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and other important people from Nassau and Suffolk County that
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matter to Long Island and Long Islanders like you. So
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each week we'll have a conversation about issues that affect
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all of us. I live on Long Island just like you,
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and I want to know more about the people making
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the big decisions that affect all of us. Well, so
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last month, Newsday reported that Nassau's comptroller demanded state officials
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reimburse the county $ 1. 75 million to partly cover yearly expenses
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of a fiscal watchdog group that monitors Nassau University Medical
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Center's spending. NIFA, which stands for the Nassau Interim Finance Authority,
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oversees budgets for the county and the hospital's parent company,
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and it's funded by Nassau taxpayer dollars. Comptroller Elaine Phillips
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says that since the hospital is now run by state-appointed
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officials rather than county leaders, Nassau residents should no longer
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foot the bill for its fiscal oversight. Well, let's learn
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more about this and other issues in the Comptroller's Office
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by welcoming back to our show Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips. Ms. Phillips,
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welcome back to this week's Long Island News.
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Thank you, Bill. It's great to be back here.
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It's good to see you.
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Always a pleasure.
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I appreciate it. You're looking healthy. I feel good. Yeah?
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Are you a tennis player or anything like that?
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Martial artist.
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Oh, really?
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Yes.
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Oh.
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Martial artist.
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Very cool.
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Took class this morning.
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Okay. Yes. Which martial artist?
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So... I've trained in a Korean martial art for 31 years. Yeah,
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six-degree black belt.
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You're a black belt.
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Six-degree.
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Six-degree black belt. Wow.
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Yeah, so we're going to, yeah.
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Hey, I want a glass wall here. All of a sudden,
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I'm intimidated.
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You know, I always share with people that sometimes politically–
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people have said, oh, she's soft. And I take that
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as a compliment because in martial arts, it's all about humility.
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Soft on the outside, strong on the inside.
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You say, yeah, yeah, she's soft, but she can kill
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you 15 ways that you don't know about.
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You're still playing in your daughter's band.
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Oh, yes.
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You are.
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Actually, I think we're On our way to our third
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tour of Japan.
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Really?
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Yeah, yeah. Good for you. It's a mind blower to me.
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Wow.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And how special to do that with your daughter.
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Yeah, it's amazing. And my son-in-law is the bass player.
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There you go.
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And our guitar player is a professor from Hofstra University.
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I didn't like that.
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Yeah, yeah.
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All in the family.
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Yeah.
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It's nice. Yeah. It's really nice.
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If I had dreamt it and wished it, it couldn't
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have been any better. Really, it's a lot of fun.
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And I might even be older than you.
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I don't know.
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Well, you look a lot better than me. I think we're.
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From the same era.
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Yeah, we could be. Yep. But anyway, so let's get on. First,
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remind our audience a little bit about you and what
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the Comptroller does in county government.
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Sure. Thank you. So Nassau County residents elected me as
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the Comptroller five years ago, the first woman to be
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elected Nassau County Comptroller. So shout out to the women
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out there. Yeah. And I was reelected this past November.
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So it's an honor to serve the people of Nassau County.
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I've had different roles in the past. 25 years of
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Wall Street, local mayor of my village, which I loved very,
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doing New York State Senator for the Northwest Quadrant, and
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now Comptroller. So what does the Comptroller of Nassau County,
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of any county, do? It's an elected position, and it's
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the fiscal watchdog. So my office monitors the Finances of
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the county really does. We make sure through our audit
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function that we weed out any type of fraud or
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waste or abuse. I have a staff of 80 wonderful employees.
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We do all the accounting for the county. We do
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the payroll, health benefits. And claims. So it's a dynamic
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operation that is critical to the financial side of accounting.
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Yeah, right, right.
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Yeah.
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Well, if I were to imagine you working, I'd see like,
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you know, a desk lamp and the rest of the
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room is dark and you're there with a, you know,
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a big quill pen and going over the, I mean,
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is that what, because it's got to be mind numbing
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work sometimes.
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You're as good as the people around you. So as
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I said, we have about 80 union members, CSCA, accountants,
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vendor specialists, payroll specialists, health benefits specialists, auditors who do
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the bulk of the work. I steer the ship. And
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if anybody follows me on social media, I'm going to
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ask your listeners, please follow me. We do a great newsletter.
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It's informative. It's short. I feel part of my job
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is to be out in the community to show people
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that we work for them. And we're out listening to
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what they have to say.
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It's like when you first said, I have 80 people
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working on. But then you started to mention all of
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the areas that you actually have to cover. Because initially
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I said, wow, 80, that's a lot of people. But
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as you spoke, I said, well, it's not that many people.
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Because that's a big job.
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It's a lot of different divisions within. And these are employees.
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who are extremely professional, well-trained, and truly care about the
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county to make sure that the operations of the county
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are done accurately. And the money that's used, our taxpayer
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dollars are used effectively. Yeah.
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Well, so let's get into the NYFA topic. I see
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Nassau County has invoiced New York State for half of
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NYFA's operating costs, $ 1. 75 million. What's the story?
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So it's pretty simple. First, I think it's important for
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the listeners to understand the way NYFA gets paid is
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from the tax dollars. that are collected, New York State collects,
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we get, the county gets a small portion of that.
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And in fact, of the $ 4 billion Nassau County budget,
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about 45% of that comes from sales tax. So I
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always say to businesses, when you do well, the county
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does well. We haven't had to raise taxes. in five
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years because of this huge revenue. So what happens when
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New York State sends those tax dollars down? First, NYFA
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gets paid. So NYFA is paid out of this sales
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tax revenue. Second, what changed was in May 2025. It
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used to be that the county had control, had the
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majority of the board of directors of the hospital. In
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Governor Hochul's budget, 2020-2025 budget, there was an amendment that
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was made. It was in the budget, but it was
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legislation in the budget. that took that control of the
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board from the county to the state. The state has
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the majority of the board. Then a month later, the
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state put the hospital under control. So for the board
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is controlled by the state, the hospital is controlled by
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By the state. Despite the fact it says Nassau University
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Medical Center, the only relationship that the county, the taxpayers
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of Nassau County have is we guarantee some debt that
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was issued years ago. It'll be paid off in 2029.
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It's not our liability, but we back it. Our credit
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back that debt. And we have a vendor relationship. They
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provide the medical care for our prisoners. But other than that,
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we have no control of the hospital. So it's been
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a year now, and we said, okay, knife is there.
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The county is in a control period, and I'd love
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to talk about why we should be not political, just factual, financial.
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So part of NYFA's job is to control the county.
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The other half of NYFA's job is to control a
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state-run hospital. So it's only logical that the state should
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pay half and we should pay half.
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I was curious, how did NYFA justify $ 1. 75 million for
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doing that job?
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So.
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They spend about a little shy of $ 3 million a year.
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So they're employees. Yeah. So we took a year plus
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three months, and that's where the $ 1. 75 million. So a
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year would be a little shy of $ 1. 5 million. Then
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the three months is a couple hundred thousand. And we're
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going to continue. To build, this is not, this shouldn't
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be coming out of Nassau County's taxpayer money.
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But I think it was all, I mean, it just
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looks to be, you know, if you mentioned to anybody
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on Long Island about a troubled hospital, Nassau University Medical Center,
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it's almost become tradition. Now, it is a hospital for
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the people. If anybody's really sick and they don't have
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insurance there, that's where they're going to go. So, obviously,
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they're taking a hit. That other hospitals don't have to
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deal with. That's correct. Or that other hospitals refuse to
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deal with. That's a different story. I can't see how
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somebody coming into a hospital can be turned away. Right.
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For any reason.
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And that's why it does provide a service to the community.
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Yeah, big time.
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But there's what you're saying.
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Well, somebody's got to pay.
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Somebody has to pay. Yeah, somebody's got to pay for it.
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Yeah. Right. We get that.
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And it's a state control.
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Right.
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Well, but. For the years leading up to that, it
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wasn't state controlled and nobody fixed it.
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Yeah.
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And I don't know that it's fixable. I mean, we
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have to come to terms with the idea that it's
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always going to be broke and it's always going to
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be in the condition it's in, but we have to
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maintain it and we have to keep it alive because
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people need it.
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Right.
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But you have to have people in government who care
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that people need it. Right. Because a lot of times they're, well,
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we don't need it, so let's get rid of it,
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you know, kind of thing.
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You know... Several years ago, a consultant was hired. And
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if you go back, not that long ago, four, maybe
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six years ago, and if you go back and look
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at the report, they presented various options to at least
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get the finances under control.
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Get a handle on it.
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It could have been downsizing the hospital, focusing on certain
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things versus other things. Obviously, you need the emergency room,
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like you said.
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Yeah. One of the best trauma centers I've heard, you know,
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if there's trauma, you want to go there. You want
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to go there. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. You're listening to
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this week's Long Island News on the voice of Nassau
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Community College 90.3 WHPC. My name is Bill McIntyre, and
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my guest today is Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips. Oh,
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and here we go. Now, this is just a follow-up.
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You spoke about NYFA maintaining the county's control period. Yeah.
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What exactly are we talking about there?
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So … Let me lay out where Nassau County is
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right now. We are double A rated. Our debt is
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double A rated. That's the next highest to triple A,
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which is the highest.
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Everybody wants triple A.
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By three independent rating agencies. We have run surpluses for
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the last, six years. We have reserves that a governing
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body called GFOA says you should have two months. Two
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months of your operating budget should be held in reserves.
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We're at 2.4 months. That's excellent. The New York State
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Comptroller has passed Does a fiscal stress test.
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Tom DiNapoli.
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Tom DiNapoli. He does his office. Does a fiscal stress.
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We have no designation and haven't. The prior county executive,
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which was a different political party than the current one,
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said in the campaign, I will get Nassau County down.
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out of a control period. There still would be oversight
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because there's debt. They guarantee debt. It's complicated, but they'd
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still be there, but in a diminished role. That's fine.
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So give me a logical reason why, given all the
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financial picture, why we should be in a control period.
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And Bill, this is not personal. There's some smart people there.
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Some I would call my friends, right?
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I would hope so.
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So this is purely financial. So you have to start
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to say to yourself, is this political or is it financial?
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So if you use something and your listeners can't say it,
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But they do multi-year forecasts for the county. So, Bill,
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you can see it. You can describe it better. Here
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are NYFA's forecasts, all negative through the years. Here's our
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actual performance, all negative.
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Very interesting.
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That is not just the current administration. That is the
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prior administration too.
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So if I look at this, I'm looking at, because
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my question to you is going to be, and probably
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stupid question.
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No, bring it on.
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Because I'm just a neighborhood schlub. But why do we
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even need knife if everything is so financially solvent? We
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have people watching a problem that's not a problem.
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My exact. They are not elected officials.
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No, that's another thing.
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The people of Nassau County speak. They vote. Let the
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elected officials do the job that the people set. And look,
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years ago, there were financial problems. Oh, yeah. I don't.
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won't argue that at one point of time, a control
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board was needed. But it's not needed today.
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Right.
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So you think it's basically it's outlived its usefulness. I mean,
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they obviously The numbers. It's not even me. It's just
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the financial position.
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Just to tell the listeners, I'm looking at a graph
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here that basically NYFA's response is all in the negative field.
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So those are all We're dying. We have no money.
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But if you look at the county's take, it's positive
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and positive more than it was needed to be.
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And those are actual results, the positive. It's not just
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our take. That's what happened.
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Right, right.
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So are they justifying themselves? I don't think it's, again,
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I don't want to personalize this. And there's one person
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who can take us out of control, and that's the governor.
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Okay.
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The governor.
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You know, we're talking about $ 1. 75 million, and a knee-jerk
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response is, well, why don't we just take the $ 1. 75
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and give it to the hospital? Because now it will
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have less of a financial problem. The question is, well,
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And again, I talk about this with a lot of
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legislators and people who come through and say that, you know,
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we don't get a lot of information. So a lot
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of the attitudes in the populace are from what they
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see Yeah. Because that's all they have to go by.
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And what we see when it comes to the hospital,
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some new guy getting appointed, we find out what his
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salary is.
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A million dollars.
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And we say, you know, for an institution that's in
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fiscal death spiral, how can someone be at the helm,
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make $ 350, 000, whatever? It's bigger than that.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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You know, what justifies that?
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Why?
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Because when the ship goes down in flames, you're going
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to be the one to take the blame? Is that
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what you're getting paid for? Because you're obviously not getting
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paid to fix this. No one in that position can. Well.
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You know, I don't think as the head of the hospital,
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you can really fix anything. You need to have the
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ability and machinations to find the people who can undergird
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that and keep it strong. I think, and the only
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hope I have is that.
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I know that working hard.
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Oh, I'm sure they are. You know, I just hope
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that the idea is never, we can all agree that
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we need that facility. You know, I pray.
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We need some form of facility.
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Yeah.
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The question is, do we need. Right.
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Do we need. Yes.
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Do we need the Pentagon size form or do we need.
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Can we run a nursing home, a Holly Patterson.
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And look.
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Health care is not my expertise. So I am going
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to do what I can as controller to help them
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in any way I can, any way I can.
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Now, do you think, and this is out of the
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realm of your job and all that, but do you
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foresee universal health care in America anytime soon?
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That is so beyond my pay grade.
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Oh, but that's what I said. This is not your job.
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This is just you thinking.
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So I have a daughter that lives in London.
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You're a citizen.
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And she's under. And I will say there's good, but
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you know.
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That's true with everything.
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You don't want to need a knee replacement because you're
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waiting a year and a half.
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But I don't want to have my house foreclosed on
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either because I can't pay my medical bills. Exactly. Half
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of the foreclosures that happen on Long Island are directly
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due to medical bills. People should not be being put
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out on the street because they want to live healthy.
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There's a mind blower. And God, I just can't imagine
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being in that position. Well, you have a choice, Dad.
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You can either get the cancer treatment and we'll all
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move out of the house and have to live on
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the street. Or you can die. We'll get your insurance
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and we'll live better. People shouldn't have to be making
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those choices. Anywhere. Oh, and I hear that congratulations are
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maybe in order for you in your office. Nassau County
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has been recognized by the Government Finance Officers Association. You
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said this before, right? With the Triple Crown Award for
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Excellence in Financial Reporting for a seventh year in a row.
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Is that a big deal to you? We are the only.
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County in New York State to get the Triple Crown Award.
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So talk about... a reflection on the dedication of our employees, right?
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When's the party? Exactly. Thank you for bringing it up.
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Well, here's another one too, just a quickie. Your office
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conducted an audit to identify possible double dipping with regard
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to health benefits by retirees and their spouses or dependents.
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Is it a big problem or did you find just
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a couple?
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Well, we found 94 retirees.
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Wow.
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And where their spouses were not only taking the Medicare
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Part B payments that we are part of the union contract,
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they were taking them from Nassau County, and they were
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taking them from whatever municipal school district employers they had.
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So we've made sure all of them were and, you know,
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we're working out payment plans if needed. Many have paid
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us back. But it was one and a half million dollars.
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Right. But some of these people really, was it like intentional?
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You know, it's like saying you can avoid paying your taxes.
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You cannot evade paying your taxes.
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Right.
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Now the intent is Did somebody just, you know, check
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the wrong box on a piece of paper and so
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this was intentional?
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Well, listen.
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People can make mistakes. I see some of this stuff
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and say, how do they expect an 84-year-old woman to
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sit down and even make sense of this thing?
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So there's a couple of things. Mistakes are made. And
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that's why we are doing, we didn't. send these people
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to the district attorneys. We're working it out. But when
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you retire, you sign something that says your spouse, Nassau County,
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will pay their Medicare, you know, copayment also as long
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as they're not accepting it from their employee. Plus, every
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check on the back of the check It repeats that.
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So when you endorse that, you're reminded.
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Well, let me tell you, a half an hour goes
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really fast. Could I say.
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Two things, please?
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Go for it.
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One, our senior discount program. We started it a couple
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years ago. I mentioned how important sales tax is to
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Nassau County. helps local businesses, helps our seniors who built
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our communities. We have a booklet or an online website
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that you can go to. 468 businesses across Nassau County
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that offer Us, seniors, a discount. Where can people find that?
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Where's the webpage?
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So they can go to NASA Accounting Controller. Just Google
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NASA Accounting Controller, and it's right on the front page.
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Or they can call us for a hard copy booklet.
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So just call.
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Wow.
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Her phone number. So we'll get a number. So call
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and we'll send it to us. I said, please go
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on social media or our cover page of our website.
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It shows you how to sign up for our newsletter.
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We talk about this senior discount program all the time.
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516-571-2386. Perfect. Call that number to get information about companies
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that give senior citizens discounts.
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Last thing, I've done 75 of them over the last
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year on scam presentations. Uh-huh. I do a little personal
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self-defense given my other part of me as a martial artist.
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But we talk about scams. I will go into any organization,
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not just senior centers, but any organization that wants a
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presentation on how to avoid scams. Tools in their toolbox.
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It's fun. We laugh. They get all kinds of information,
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50 minutes. Call my office.
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That's great.
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Glad to come out.
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Wow. I really like that idea. You know, we see
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them left and right. Yeah. Well, my guest today has
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been Nassau County Comptroller Eileen Phillips. And again, we want
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to thank you for taking the time to be here.
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I know you're busy and even busier than I thought.
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And we'll see you soon.
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Really appreciate it. Thank you to your listeners.
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The clock on the wall says it's time for this
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week's Long Island News to get on out of here.
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I'm Bill McIntyre. Remember, you can listen to us by
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searching for this week's Long Island News wherever you listen
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00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:14.849
to podcasts. And we're right here every Friday at 3 p.m.
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00:28:14.890 --> 00:28:17.250
on The Voice of Nassau Community College, 90.3 WHPC.
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You're listening to the voice of Nassau Community College 90.3 WHPC.
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00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:10.349
My name is Bill McIntyre, and it's time for this
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00:00:10.390 --> 00:00:13.589
week's Long Island News, the show that talks to newsmakers
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00:00:13.630 --> 00:00:16.429
and other important people from Nassau and Suffolk County that
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00:00:16.530 --> 00:00:20.089
matter to Long Island and Long Islanders like you. So
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each week we'll have a conversation about issues that affect
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all of us. I live on Long Island just like you,
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and I want to know more about the people making
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the big decisions that affect all of us. Well, so
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last month, Newsday reported that Nassau's comptroller demanded state officials
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reimburse the county $ 1. 75 million to partly cover yearly expenses
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of a fiscal watchdog group that monitors Nassau University Medical
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Center's spending. NIFA, which stands for the Nassau Interim Finance Authority,
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oversees budgets for the county and the hospital's parent company,
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and it's funded by Nassau taxpayer dollars. Comptroller Elaine Phillips
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says that since the hospital is now run by state-appointed
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officials rather than county leaders, Nassau residents should no longer
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foot the bill for its fiscal oversight. Well, let's learn
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more about this and other issues in the Comptroller's Office
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by welcoming back to our show Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips. Ms. Phillips,
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welcome back to this week's Long Island News.
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Thank you, Bill. It's great to be back here.
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It's good to see you.
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Always a pleasure.
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I appreciate it. You're looking healthy. I feel good. Yeah?
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Are you a tennis player or anything like that?
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Martial artist.
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Oh, really?
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Yes.
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Oh.
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Martial artist.
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Very cool.
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Took class this morning.
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Okay. Yes. Which martial artist?
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So... I've trained in a Korean martial art for 31 years. Yeah,
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six-degree black belt.
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You're a black belt.
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Six-degree.
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Six-degree black belt. Wow.
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Yeah, so we're going to, yeah.
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Hey, I want a glass wall here. All of a sudden,
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I'm intimidated.
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You know, I always share with people that sometimes politically–
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people have said, oh, she's soft. And I take that
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as a compliment because in martial arts, it's all about humility.
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Soft on the outside, strong on the inside.
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You say, yeah, yeah, she's soft, but she can kill
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you 15 ways that you don't know about.
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You're still playing in your daughter's band.
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Oh, yes.
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You are.
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Actually, I think we're On our way to our third
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tour of Japan.
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Really?
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Yeah, yeah. Good for you. It's a mind blower to me.
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Wow.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And how special to do that with your daughter.
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Yeah, it's amazing. And my son-in-law is the bass player.
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There you go.
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And our guitar player is a professor from Hofstra University.
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I didn't like that.
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Yeah, yeah.
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All in the family.
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Yeah.
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It's nice. Yeah. It's really nice.
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If I had dreamt it and wished it, it couldn't
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have been any better. Really, it's a lot of fun.
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And I might even be older than you.
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I don't know.
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Well, you look a lot better than me. I think we're.
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From the same era.
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Yeah, we could be. Yep. But anyway, so let's get on. First,
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remind our audience a little bit about you and what
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the Comptroller does in county government.
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Sure. Thank you. So Nassau County residents elected me as
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the Comptroller five years ago, the first woman to be
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elected Nassau County Comptroller. So shout out to the women
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out there. Yeah. And I was reelected this past November.
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So it's an honor to serve the people of Nassau County.
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I've had different roles in the past. 25 years of
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Wall Street, local mayor of my village, which I loved very,
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doing New York State Senator for the Northwest Quadrant, and
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now Comptroller. So what does the Comptroller of Nassau County,
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of any county, do? It's an elected position, and it's
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the fiscal watchdog. So my office monitors the Finances of
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the county really does. We make sure through our audit
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function that we weed out any type of fraud or
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waste or abuse. I have a staff of 80 wonderful employees.
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We do all the accounting for the county. We do
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the payroll, health benefits. And claims. So it's a dynamic
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operation that is critical to the financial side of accounting.
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Yeah, right, right.
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Yeah.
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Well, if I were to imagine you working, I'd see like,
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you know, a desk lamp and the rest of the
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room is dark and you're there with a, you know,
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a big quill pen and going over the, I mean,
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is that what, because it's got to be mind numbing
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work sometimes.
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You're as good as the people around you. So as
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I said, we have about 80 union members, CSCA, accountants,
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vendor specialists, payroll specialists, health benefits specialists, auditors who do
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the bulk of the work. I steer the ship. And
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if anybody follows me on social media, I'm going to
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ask your listeners, please follow me. We do a great newsletter.
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It's informative. It's short. I feel part of my job
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is to be out in the community to show people
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that we work for them. And we're out listening to
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what they have to say.
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It's like when you first said, I have 80 people
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working on. But then you started to mention all of
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the areas that you actually have to cover. Because initially
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I said, wow, 80, that's a lot of people. But
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as you spoke, I said, well, it's not that many people.
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Because that's a big job.
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It's a lot of different divisions within. And these are employees.
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who are extremely professional, well-trained, and truly care about the
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county to make sure that the operations of the county
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are done accurately. And the money that's used, our taxpayer
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dollars are used effectively. Yeah.
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Well, so let's get into the NYFA topic. I see
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Nassau County has invoiced New York State for half of
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NYFA's operating costs, $ 1. 75 million. What's the story?
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So it's pretty simple. First, I think it's important for
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the listeners to understand the way NYFA gets paid is
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from the tax dollars. that are collected, New York State collects,
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we get, the county gets a small portion of that.
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And in fact, of the $ 4 billion Nassau County budget,
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about 45% of that comes from sales tax. So I
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always say to businesses, when you do well, the county
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does well. We haven't had to raise taxes. in five
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years because of this huge revenue. So what happens when
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New York State sends those tax dollars down? First, NYFA
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gets paid. So NYFA is paid out of this sales
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tax revenue. Second, what changed was in May 2025. It
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used to be that the county had control, had the
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majority of the board of directors of the hospital. In
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Governor Hochul's budget, 2020-2025 budget, there was an amendment that
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was made. It was in the budget, but it was
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legislation in the budget. that took that control of the
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board from the county to the state. The state has
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the majority of the board. Then a month later, the
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state put the hospital under control. So for the board
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is controlled by the state, the hospital is controlled by
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By the state. Despite the fact it says Nassau University
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Medical Center, the only relationship that the county, the taxpayers
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of Nassau County have is we guarantee some debt that
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was issued years ago. It'll be paid off in 2029.
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It's not our liability, but we back it. Our credit
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back that debt. And we have a vendor relationship. They
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provide the medical care for our prisoners. But other than that,
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we have no control of the hospital. So it's been
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a year now, and we said, okay, knife is there.
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The county is in a control period, and I'd love
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to talk about why we should be not political, just factual, financial.
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So part of NYFA's job is to control the county.
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The other half of NYFA's job is to control a
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state-run hospital. So it's only logical that the state should
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pay half and we should pay half.
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I was curious, how did NYFA justify $ 1. 75 million for
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doing that job?
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So.
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They spend about a little shy of $ 3 million a year.
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So they're employees. Yeah. So we took a year plus
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three months, and that's where the $ 1. 75 million. So a
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year would be a little shy of $ 1. 5 million. Then
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the three months is a couple hundred thousand. And we're
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going to continue. To build, this is not, this shouldn't
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be coming out of Nassau County's taxpayer money.
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But I think it was all, I mean, it just
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looks to be, you know, if you mentioned to anybody
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on Long Island about a troubled hospital, Nassau University Medical Center,
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it's almost become tradition. Now, it is a hospital for
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the people. If anybody's really sick and they don't have
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insurance there, that's where they're going to go. So, obviously,
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they're taking a hit. That other hospitals don't have to
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deal with. That's correct. Or that other hospitals refuse to
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deal with. That's a different story. I can't see how
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somebody coming into a hospital can be turned away. Right.
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For any reason.
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And that's why it does provide a service to the community.
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Yeah, big time.
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But there's what you're saying.
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Well, somebody's got to pay.
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Somebody has to pay. Yeah, somebody's got to pay for it.
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Yeah. Right. We get that.
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And it's a state control.
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Right.
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Well, but. For the years leading up to that, it
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wasn't state controlled and nobody fixed it.
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Yeah.
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And I don't know that it's fixable. I mean, we
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have to come to terms with the idea that it's
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always going to be broke and it's always going to
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be in the condition it's in, but we have to
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maintain it and we have to keep it alive because
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people need it.
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Right.
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But you have to have people in government who care
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that people need it. Right. Because a lot of times they're, well,
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we don't need it, so let's get rid of it,
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you know, kind of thing.
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You know... Several years ago, a consultant was hired. And
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if you go back, not that long ago, four, maybe
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six years ago, and if you go back and look
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at the report, they presented various options to at least
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get the finances under control.
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Get a handle on it.
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It could have been downsizing the hospital, focusing on certain
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things versus other things. Obviously, you need the emergency room,
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like you said.
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Yeah. One of the best trauma centers I've heard, you know,
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if there's trauma, you want to go there. You want
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to go there. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. You're listening to
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this week's Long Island News on the voice of Nassau
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Community College 90.3 WHPC. My name is Bill McIntyre, and
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my guest today is Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips. Oh,
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and here we go. Now, this is just a follow-up.
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You spoke about NYFA maintaining the county's control period. Yeah.
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What exactly are we talking about there?
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So … Let me lay out where Nassau County is
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right now. We are double A rated. Our debt is
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double A rated. That's the next highest to triple A,
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which is the highest.
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Everybody wants triple A.
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By three independent rating agencies. We have run surpluses for
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the last, six years. We have reserves that a governing
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body called GFOA says you should have two months. Two
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months of your operating budget should be held in reserves.
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We're at 2.4 months. That's excellent. The New York State
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Comptroller has passed Does a fiscal stress test.
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Tom DiNapoli.
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Tom DiNapoli. He does his office. Does a fiscal stress.
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We have no designation and haven't. The prior county executive,
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which was a different political party than the current one,
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said in the campaign, I will get Nassau County down.
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out of a control period. There still would be oversight
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because there's debt. They guarantee debt. It's complicated, but they'd
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still be there, but in a diminished role. That's fine.
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So give me a logical reason why, given all the
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financial picture, why we should be in a control period.
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And Bill, this is not personal. There's some smart people there.
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Some I would call my friends, right?
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I would hope so.
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So this is purely financial. So you have to start
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to say to yourself, is this political or is it financial?
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So if you use something and your listeners can't say it,
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But they do multi-year forecasts for the county. So, Bill,
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you can see it. You can describe it better. Here
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are NYFA's forecasts, all negative through the years. Here's our
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actual performance, all negative.
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Very interesting.
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That is not just the current administration. That is the
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prior administration too.
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So if I look at this, I'm looking at, because
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my question to you is going to be, and probably
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stupid question.
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No, bring it on.
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Because I'm just a neighborhood schlub. But why do we
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even need knife if everything is so financially solvent? We
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have people watching a problem that's not a problem.
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My exact. They are not elected officials.
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No, that's another thing.
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The people of Nassau County speak. They vote. Let the
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elected officials do the job that the people set. And look,
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years ago, there were financial problems. Oh, yeah. I don't.
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won't argue that at one point of time, a control
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board was needed. But it's not needed today.
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Right.
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So you think it's basically it's outlived its usefulness. I mean,
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they obviously The numbers. It's not even me. It's just
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the financial position.
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Just to tell the listeners, I'm looking at a graph
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here that basically NYFA's response is all in the negative field.
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So those are all We're dying. We have no money.
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But if you look at the county's take, it's positive
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and positive more than it was needed to be.
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And those are actual results, the positive. It's not just
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our take. That's what happened.
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Right, right.
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So are they justifying themselves? I don't think it's, again,
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I don't want to personalize this. And there's one person
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who can take us out of control, and that's the governor.
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Okay.
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The governor.
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You know, we're talking about $ 1. 75 million, and a knee-jerk
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response is, well, why don't we just take the $ 1. 75
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and give it to the hospital? Because now it will
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have less of a financial problem. The question is, well,
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And again, I talk about this with a lot of
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legislators and people who come through and say that, you know,
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we don't get a lot of information. So a lot
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of the attitudes in the populace are from what they
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see Yeah. Because that's all they have to go by.
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And what we see when it comes to the hospital,
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some new guy getting appointed, we find out what his
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salary is.
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A million dollars.
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And we say, you know, for an institution that's in
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fiscal death spiral, how can someone be at the helm,
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make $ 350, 000, whatever? It's bigger than that.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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You know, what justifies that?
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Why?
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Because when the ship goes down in flames, you're going
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to be the one to take the blame? Is that
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what you're getting paid for? Because you're obviously not getting
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paid to fix this. No one in that position can. Well.
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You know, I don't think as the head of the hospital,
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you can really fix anything. You need to have the
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ability and machinations to find the people who can undergird
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that and keep it strong. I think, and the only
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hope I have is that.
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I know that working hard.
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Oh, I'm sure they are. You know, I just hope
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that the idea is never, we can all agree that
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we need that facility. You know, I pray.
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We need some form of facility.
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Yeah.
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The question is, do we need. Right.
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Do we need. Yes.
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Do we need the Pentagon size form or do we need.
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Can we run a nursing home, a Holly Patterson.
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And look.
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Health care is not my expertise. So I am going
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to do what I can as controller to help them
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in any way I can, any way I can.
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Now, do you think, and this is out of the
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realm of your job and all that, but do you
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foresee universal health care in America anytime soon?
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That is so beyond my pay grade.
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Oh, but that's what I said. This is not your job.
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This is just you thinking.
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So I have a daughter that lives in London.
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You're a citizen.
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And she's under. And I will say there's good, but
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you know.
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That's true with everything.
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You don't want to need a knee replacement because you're
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waiting a year and a half.
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But I don't want to have my house foreclosed on
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either because I can't pay my medical bills. Exactly. Half
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of the foreclosures that happen on Long Island are directly
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due to medical bills. People should not be being put
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out on the street because they want to live healthy.
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There's a mind blower. And God, I just can't imagine
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being in that position. Well, you have a choice, Dad.
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You can either get the cancer treatment and we'll all
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move out of the house and have to live on
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the street. Or you can die. We'll get your insurance
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and we'll live better. People shouldn't have to be making
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those choices. Anywhere. Oh, and I hear that congratulations are
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maybe in order for you in your office. Nassau County
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has been recognized by the Government Finance Officers Association. You
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said this before, right? With the Triple Crown Award for
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Excellence in Financial Reporting for a seventh year in a row.
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Is that a big deal to you? We are the only.
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County in New York State to get the Triple Crown Award.
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So talk about... a reflection on the dedication of our employees, right?
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When's the party? Exactly. Thank you for bringing it up.
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Well, here's another one too, just a quickie. Your office
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conducted an audit to identify possible double dipping with regard
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to health benefits by retirees and their spouses or dependents.
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Is it a big problem or did you find just
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a couple?
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Well, we found 94 retirees.
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Wow.
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And where their spouses were not only taking the Medicare
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Part B payments that we are part of the union contract,
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they were taking them from Nassau County, and they were
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taking them from whatever municipal school district employers they had.
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So we've made sure all of them were and, you know,
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we're working out payment plans if needed. Many have paid
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us back. But it was one and a half million dollars.
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Right. But some of these people really, was it like intentional?
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You know, it's like saying you can avoid paying your taxes.
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You cannot evade paying your taxes.
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Right.
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Now the intent is Did somebody just, you know, check
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the wrong box on a piece of paper and so
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this was intentional?
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Well, listen.
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People can make mistakes. I see some of this stuff
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and say, how do they expect an 84-year-old woman to
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sit down and even make sense of this thing?
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So there's a couple of things. Mistakes are made. And
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that's why we are doing, we didn't. send these people
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to the district attorneys. We're working it out. But when
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you retire, you sign something that says your spouse, Nassau County,
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will pay their Medicare, you know, copayment also as long
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as they're not accepting it from their employee. Plus, every
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check on the back of the check It repeats that.
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So when you endorse that, you're reminded.
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Well, let me tell you, a half an hour goes
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really fast. Could I say.
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Two things, please?
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Go for it.
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One, our senior discount program. We started it a couple
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years ago. I mentioned how important sales tax is to
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Nassau County. helps local businesses, helps our seniors who built
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our communities. We have a booklet or an online website
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that you can go to. 468 businesses across Nassau County
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that offer Us, seniors, a discount. Where can people find that?
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Where's the webpage?
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So they can go to NASA Accounting Controller. Just Google
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NASA Accounting Controller, and it's right on the front page.
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Or they can call us for a hard copy booklet.
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So just call.
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Wow.
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Her phone number. So we'll get a number. So call
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and we'll send it to us. I said, please go
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on social media or our cover page of our website.
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It shows you how to sign up for our newsletter.
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We talk about this senior discount program all the time.
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516-571-2386. Perfect. Call that number to get information about companies
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that give senior citizens discounts.
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Last thing, I've done 75 of them over the last
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year on scam presentations. Uh-huh. I do a little personal
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self-defense given my other part of me as a martial artist.
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But we talk about scams. I will go into any organization,
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not just senior centers, but any organization that wants a
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presentation on how to avoid scams. Tools in their toolbox.
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It's fun. We laugh. They get all kinds of information,
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50 minutes. Call my office.
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That's great.
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Glad to come out.
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Wow. I really like that idea. You know, we see
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them left and right. Yeah. Well, my guest today has
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been Nassau County Comptroller Eileen Phillips. And again, we want
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to thank you for taking the time to be here.
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I know you're busy and even busier than I thought.
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And we'll see you soon.
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Really appreciate it. Thank you to your listeners.
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The clock on the wall says it's time for this
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week's Long Island News to get on out of here.
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I'm Bill McIntyre. Remember, you can listen to us by
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searching for this week's Long Island News wherever you listen
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00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:14.849
to podcasts. And we're right here every Friday at 3 p.m.
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on The Voice of Nassau Community College, 90.3 WHPC.
