A Few Questions With Comptroller Jack Schnirman

In January, Jack Schnirman was sworn in as the new Nassau County Comptroller, replacing George Maragos.

Before becoming the county's top fiscal watchdog, Schnirman spent years as the city manager of Long Beach, helping to run his city. Patch caught up with Schnirman to ask him a few questions about how his new job is going, and what new challenges he's facing.

Patch: What made you want to run for County Comptroller?

Jack Schnirman: I ran for Nassau County Comptroller because our county was facing a corruption crisis, and I am focused on reform to end that culture of corruption, so we can invest in the services we all care about. As comptroller, I can be an independent fiscal umpire and ensure that local government serves the best interests of all residents. I knew that the comptroller’s office could do more, from smarter audits to bringing an in-house performance management component to the county to ensure we are getting the most out of our tax dollars.

Patch: How has the transition gone? Have you had any problems?

Schnirman: The transition has been great. We were able to put together a professional team from the private, public and nonprofit sectors who understand what it will take to enact real reform in Nassau County. We have already gotten to work delivering on our promises:

• Modernizing the county’s finances;
• Auditing smart and aggressive;
• Reforming the county contracting system;
• Improving accessibility through a “report it, reform it” initiative.

I spent my first days in office meeting with the division heads to get up to speed on current operations. They have been incredibly helpful in identifying ways we can make substantive improvements.

I think the biggest challenge we are facing right now is dealing with the fact that the staff of field auditors in the office has been cut in half in recent years. We will keep working to enhance the audit and investigative capabilities of this office. We’re also committed to taking steps to modernize our finances.

Patch: What is the most challenging part of the job?

Schnirman: One of the most challenging, and important, parts of this job is thinking about new ways to take all the important financial information being generated in this office and getting it out to the public in a way that's easy to understand. This is their money at work, and they are owed a clear look at how it is being spent. That means taking active steps to modernize our finances and implement real transparency initiatives.

Patch: What's the most unexpected part of the job?

Schnirman: Different financial programs of the county don’t all talk to each other very well. The systems are antiquated, and it presents significant challenges to provide real-time financial reporting.

Patch: How does being comptroller compare to being Long Beach's City Manager?

Schnirman: There are a lot of similarities, in that the role is to take a professional approach to government, making determinations and recommendations for policy makers. Beyond that, no matter how little traffic there is, my commute to work is more than 90 seconds.

Photo: Jack Schnirman's Office