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Glen Cove Achieves Budget Surplus and Earns “No Fiscal Stress” Rating
GLEN COVE - The City of Glen Cove has reached an impressive financial milestone, closing the 2024 fiscal year with an $87,556 budget surplus, the city’s first positive balance since 2017. The achievement comes alongside the New York State Comptroller’s designation of Glen Cove as having “No Fiscal Stress,” a distinction that reflects the city’s strong fiscal management and renewed financial health. After years of deficits, including a $5 million shortfall just four years ago, the city’s turnaround highlights the results of responsible budgeting, disciplined spending, and a clear focus on efficiency and accountability.
Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck and the City Council majority have been widely credited for steering Glen Cove toward this success through careful planning and teamwork.
Under their leadership, the city implemented tighter fiscal controls, re-evaluated departmental budgets, and found creative ways to strengthen revenue without overburdening taxpayers. City Comptroller Michael Piccirillo’s diligent oversight and transparent financial reporting have also been key to restoring confidence in City Hall’s stewardship. Together, the administration and council have not only stabilized Glen Cove’s finances but set the city on a path of continued growth, responsibility, and civic pride.
Glen Cove Approves $69.3M Budget With Zero Tax Increase Despite Council Opposition
GLEN COVE - Glen Cove has formally adopted its 2026 budget totaling $69.3 million without raising property taxes. After one public hearing, the council voted three in favor, two opposed, and one abstention. Because the budget failed to achieve a clear majority, the city charter required it to be automatically adopted. The new plan holds the tax levy steady at $33.3 million and relies on new revenue sources, including a revised sales tax preemption measure, to keep the city’s finances stable without placing additional burdens on homeowners.
Republican councilmembers Grady Farnan, Mike Ktistakis, and Kevin Maccarone voted to approve the budget, while Democrats John Zozzaro and Marsha Silverman voted against it and Democrat Daniell Fugazy-Scagliola abstained.
Their opposition drew sharp criticism from residents who noted that the plan invests in critical infrastructure and city services without any tax increase. Supporters praised Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck and the City Council majority for their steady fiscal leadership, responsible budgeting, and commitment to protecting taxpayers while moving Glen Cove forward.
Residents Speak: Keep The Momentum Going
Dear Editor - As a husband and a new father, I think every day about the kind of Glen Cove my family will grow up in. For too many years, city leaders allowed our community to decline. The Democratic majority ran up a crushing budget deficit, let our beautiful parks like Morgan Park, Pascucci Field, and Pryibil Beach decay, and allowed water infrastructure to deteriorate to the point of risking public safety.
Worse still, they stood idly by while storefronts downtown and across our city sat empty, offering no plan to spur business growth or attract investment. Councilwoman Silverman was there for all of it, silent when she should have spoken, complicit when she should have led. Now she wants to be rewarded with the mayor’s office.
Since 2022, Republican leadership has shown Glen Cove what good governance looks like. Mayor Pam Panzenbeck and the Republican council majority eliminated the deficit that the Democrats left behind, secured critical bond rating upgrades, restored our parks and beaches, and made millions of dollars in overdue investments in roads and water systems. Just as importantly, they’ve begun to reverse years of economic stagnation, helping fill storefronts and laying the groundwork for real growth. Where Democrats left decay, Republicans have delivered renewal.
The Democrats’ record speaks for itself: debt, disrepair, and decline. To put Councilwoman Silverman in charge would be to return Glen Cove to the very policies that nearly bankrupted our city and put families at risk. She cannot claim ignorance; she was there, she voted, she enabled it. The idea that she now represents “new leadership” is an insult to the people who lived through the Democrats’ failures.
The choice is clear. We can continue moving forward with Mayor Panzenbeck’s proven record of fiscal responsibility, improved infrastructure, and economic revitalization, or we can hand Glen Cove back to the same failed Democratic politicians that left our city in crisis. For those of us invested in the future of Glen Cove, the answer should be obvious