John V. Scaduto, who has served as treasurer of Nassau County, N.Y., for the past 23 years, announced Friday that he will resign from office, effective Nov. 1.
Scaduto said he has chosen to accept an early retirement plan recently offered by the financially strapped Nassau County government.
"I have given the county 23 years of service, " Scaduto said. " Now it's time for me to do other things."
Scaduto, an attorney. said he will practice law.
He said his decision was unrelated to the recent political turmoil that has stalled a deficit bailout plan proposed by county executive Thomas Gulotta and triggered a rating downgrade.
The county's Board of Supervisors, its legislative body, is deadlocked over a plan to sell deficit bonds and levy a 1 % mortgage recording tax.
The board will meet today to discuss various deficit reduction packages. At the moment, three Republicans on the board said they will approve the county executive's plan, while the three Democrats oppose it.
Last week, Moody's Investors Service cut Nassau's general obligation bond rating two notches to Baa from A in response to the stymied deficit plan. The ratings cut cost the county between $2 million and $3 million extra on a recent $103 million GO bond deal.
During his career, Scaduto has established several municipal finance techniques that are used by other county governments. For example, Scaduto instituted one of the first municipal investment programs, in which the county on a daily basis would place funds in banks offering the best interest rates.
He is also active in both the state and national Government Finance Officers Association.
His departure is a loss for the county." said Herman R. Charbonneau, a 34-year veteran of the public finance business and senior vice president and manager of the public finance department at Roosevelt & Cross Inc. "You just don't get the kind of dedication that John brought to the job."
