Best of 2011: Nassau County Stories

7. Back in April, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano delivered his second "State of the County" address.

Mangano discussed bringing Nassau out of the "state of repair" it is in and asked all politicians to come together to fix the county.

6. After months of speculation, Mangano announced in November the county's contract agreement with Veolia Transportation to manage and operate Long Island Bus under a new name – Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) – starting Jan. 1, 2012.

In December, Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt and Democratic Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams both approved the contract with Veolia in what the three politicians described as successful "bi-partisan cooperation."

5. Less than one month after Mangano wrote that unions were to blame in part for the county's financial mess, dozens of unions from across New York State came together in front of the Nassau County Legislative Building to rally against what they called the “Anti-American and Anti-Union” agenda of the county executive.

The impetus behind the rally was Mangano’s legislation known as the "Fiscal Crisis Reform Act," which, according to the union representatives, would allow the county executive to break contracts with unions whenever he sees fit.

4. Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice closed the county's crime lab in February after drug chemistry officials produced "inaccurate test results" in six cases involving the drugs MDMA (ecstasy) and Ketamine.

Last December, a state audit on the crime lab found several violations related to procedure and policy, prompting plans for a new lab and the crime lab's placement on probation. On Feb. 17, Rice said her office was informed that some police supervisors might have been aware of the problems before the audit was made public. She said her office will conduct a complete review of the crime lab's activities.

Later in February, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed State Inspector General Ellen Biben to lead an investigation into potential impropriety at the Nassau County crime lab.

Rice said in November that Biben's report "highlights the need for an independent civilian-run crime lab, state accreditation agency reform, and offers a welcome blueprint for returning the necessary credibility to our county’s testing of forensic evidence."

In December, Mangano announced that a Forensic Advisory Board had been formed to guide the new crime lab.

3. In April, Nassau's Republican majority proposed new legislative district lines that Democrats alleged would allow the GOP to hold onto power for the next 10 years. Hundreds of Nassau County residents rallied against the proposed changes to legislative district lines in May.

After a month of back-and-forth between the Democrats and Republicans, and multiple restraining orders placed on the redistricting, a New York State Supreme Court (NYSSC) judge declared that the redistricted map could not be used in the coming election because it did not comply with two parts of the county charter.

One month later, reversing the decision by the NYSSC judge, a state appeals court ruled that the redistricted legislative lines were allowed to be used in the coming election.

However, the months-long battle over the legislative lines ended on Aug. 30 when New York State’s highest court unanimously ruled that the new lines voted in by Republicans could not be used in the coming election.

2. Mangano was joined by New York Islanders owner Charles Wang and Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray on the morning of May 11 to announce the plans to build a sports-entertainment complex at the current site of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The decision to build the arena was given to Nassau County residents, who watched and listened patiently as support for a new arena poured in and plans were made by Mangano and Wang. The county executive and Isles owner were left disappointed after the Aug. 1 vote, as nearly 57 percent of residents voted against the referendum.

In September, a second plan for the Coliseum property emerged after Mangano had announced that he was seeking privately funded proposals for the property. However, no progress has been made with that plan as of yet.

1. The biggest news in Nassau happened during the first month of 2011 when the Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) took control of the county’s finances after the state watchdog determined that Nassau’s budget would reportedly run a deficit of approximately $176 million in the 2011 fiscal year.

The 2011 deficit forced Mangano to layoff more than 200 county workers in order to cut $181.9 million from the budget.

The 2012 budget was rejected by NIFA multiple times this year, causing Mangano to once again layoff workers and consolidate police precincts.

The budget was finally being approved in early December. However, the Nassau Legislature must also approve the budget before it can be adopted.