Add The New York Post on Google Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman took a break from the gubernatorial campaign trail to unveil his $4.6 billion budget proposal for 2027.
Blakeman, the GOP gubernatorial candidate taking on incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul in November, filed the nearly $5 billion budget on Tuesday evening — aiming to keep property taxes flat while adding 36 new cops in his first budget proposal since being reelected to his local seat last November.
“For the fifth year in a row, I have delivered a no-tax-increase budget,” Blakeman told The Post.
The new proposal would also keep the Nassau County police department’s $1.1 billion budget roughly the same, which accounts for nearly a quarter of the county’s total spending by itself and is among the top-10 highest police budgets in the country.
But Democrats blasted the budget for dipping into budget reserves as they claimed Blakeman was preoccupied with his statewide run.
“Running Nassau County requires time and attention, and Bruce Blakeman has spent too much of both campaigning for governor instead of doing the job he already has,” Nassau County Democratic Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton added, claiming the proposal does little to actually address the needs of residents.
Blakeman brushed off the attacks by Dems and said that “even the Democratic State Comptroller admitted that our finances were excellent.
“In the meantime, we continue to deliver the high-quality services that our residents demand,” he said.
Blakeman expects to finance the county’s budget mainly using roughly $1.7 billion in projected sales tax revenue — a massive $68.9 million projected jump from the current year.
The plan also counts on roughly $360 million in state aid and $247.5 million in federal aid, with reserves currently sitting at $740 million.
The budget now goes before the Republican-controlled Nassau Board of Legislators, which is expected to pass it at the end of October.
