Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi is scheduled to unveil his emergency budget on Monday, and according to sources, it could mean some costly cuts.

The national recession is making house calls across the country, dragging down local economies and putting intense pressure on local officials to cut costs that many fear will jeopardize public safety.

Suozzi says his budget is not immune and is expected to call for a myriad of belt tightening measures to close an estimated $130 million budget gap.

Suozzi says the severity of the cuts will rely heavily on the promise of state and federal aid. But if that aid doesn’t come through, Suozzi says he will be forced to order dramatic cuts to various youth services and other social programs and layoff several hundred county workers, including more than 200 hundred police officers.

The Nassau County Police Department is already hurting.

“I’d rather see more cars on the street than having cops just double up,” said homeowner Zarkin Woodbury.

Patrol cars are out of service and officers are often doubling up in older patrol cars that have high mileage.

“We are at a critical level of cars. We need these cars now, whether through county exec or legislature. We need this to move forward,” said Kevin Tobin of the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association.

Suozzi is also counting on $50 million in savings if the local unions could be convinced to take a cut in salaries and benefits.

(Source: WCBSTV)