(MINEOLA, N.Y.) – On Thursday, Feb. 13, the Nassau Interim Finance Agency (NIFA) authorized a $20,045 contract to retain Nawrocki Smith LLP to audit the Office of the County Attorney and examine the sharp increase in outside counsel costs during Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024. The firm will also be tasked with recommending management approvements.
Since the start of the Blakeman administration, outside counsel costs have ballooned - from $6,095,071 in Fiscal Year 2022 and $9,012,173 in Fiscal Year 2023 to an astounding yet authorized sum of $14,555,000 in Fiscal Year 2024.
Following NIFA’s vote on Thursday night, Nassau County Legislature Deputy Minority Leader Arnold W. Drucker (D – Plainview) issued the following statement:
“Since becoming a Nassau County Legislator in 2016, I have frequently been disappointed by the overreliance upon outside counsel by the County Attorney’s office. However, this problem has grown exponentially worse during the Blakeman administration, and taxpayers deserve to know exactly how their hard-earned money is being spent,” Nassau County Legislature Deputy Minority Leader Arnold W. Drucker (D - Plainview) said. “As outside counsel costs continue to soar at unsustainable rates, I welcome this audit as a tool for implementing policies that can root out waste, restore proper full-time staffing levels at the County Attorney’s office, and ensure that when the County hires outside counsel, we are retaining the most qualified firms strictly on the merits and only when it is absolutely necessary.”