Top 10 Nassau County Stories of 2010

 10. The Bay Park Treatment Plant

Following years of neglect on repairs and maintenence, a brown plume of sewage began leaking into Nassau County's Western bays. Plant administrators say that  by the end of 2011.

9. Rumored Integration of NUMC and North Shore LIJ

Speculation swirled in November that , spelling the end for Nassau's last public hospital. An independent consultant has been hired to review any proposals for integration.

8. Nassau Unemployment

The current rate of unemployment in Nassau has held steady or barely declined for most of 2010. Starting off at 7.4 percent in January, it dipped as low as 6.5 percent in May, before steadily creeping up to 6.9 in July, dropping to  through , and hitting .

7. Long Island Bus

In a back and forth that has seemed to never end between itself and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Nassau is seeking ways to . Fed up, County Executive Ed Mangano, R-Bethpage,  while county Comptroller George Maragos issued a report that said the  to the system as well.

6. Raising Fees

Following a proposed  from Mangano, Nassau began looking at fee increases to help fund parts of its budget. Most notably were the fee increases for  who play on County-owned fields, as well as costs associated with tickets and .

5. The Elimination of the County Guarantee for Schools

As part of a massive overhaul to the way property tax settlements are handed in Nassau, the county is eliminating an eight-decade practice of essentially  on taxes from overassessed property. Schools say that they will have to  from property owners, thus causing taxes to go up more.

4. Nassau's Assessment System

Mangano promised to fix the "broken" assessment system when he took office. One year later, while assessments have dropped, tax bills are still rising to make up for lost amounts in state aid and Nassau County is .

3. Martins Defeats Johnson in Seventh State Senate District

If ever there was a swing district, New York's 7th Senate is it for Nassau County. A (, then ) by   over incumbent , D-Port Washington, put the State Senate back in Republican hands by a 32-30 majority, cementing the return of the Long Island Nine and presumably of state Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, as Senate Majority Leader.

2. Looming County Takeover by NIFA

Plugging an estimated $343 million budget deficit isn't easy. State-watchdog NIFA () has recently decided to bear its fangs in an effort to  in 2011. If not, New York State could be running Nassau County in 2011.

1. The Nassau County Budget

Balanced or unbalanced?  Whole or full of holes? Deficit or surplus? Downgraded bonds. Stagnated union negotiations. The threat of . No other story dominated the news like the Nassau County budget, so much so that five of the previous six in this list come directly from this one issue. The , albeit with  along the way. Mangano has touted  and a revamped assessment system as the solutions, but are they enough to stave off a State-takeover?