Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck has laid out an ambitious $6.9 million capital borrowing plan for 2025 that prioritizes infrastructure rehabilitation, public safety enhancements and recreational investments in Glen Cove’s long-term development.
“This plan continues my vision to repair, improve and invest in the city’s deteriorated infrastructure, which has been problematic for so many years,” Panzenbeck said at a City Council meeting Tuesday night. “I’ve been working with my team diligently to ensure they have the essential resources to operate their departments effectively and efficiently while improving the city’s landscape.”
The 2025 Capital Plan proposes a total debt issuance of just over $6.9 million, with approximately $6.28 million funded by long-term municipal bonds and $618,000 by short-term bond anticipation notes. The bond notes are expected to be reimbursed with federal, state and county grants within a year of the completion of the projects, minimizing the financial burden on local taxpayers.
City Controller Michael Piccirillo explained that the city’s bonds, which will be repaid over 19 years, are expected to carry an interest rate of 3.5 to 4 percent, depending on market conditions. “Funds are appropriated in the General Fund when the City prepares its operating budget and used to pay the debt service incurred by the issued bonds,” Piccirillo wrote in an email to the Herald. “This year’s borrow is approximately $600,000 more than last year’s bond ordinance.”
Piccirillo acknowledged that borrowing money can be a polarizing subject among residents. “There are some people who don’t like to borrow at all because of the interest rate component, and there are others that appreciate the ability to spread the payments over a longer period of time so the impact is not that burdensome as if it were all purchased and paid for at one time,” he said. “By spreading the payments, the impact to any potential tax rate increases to our taxpayers is minimized.”
The single largest allocation — 41 percent of the borrowing plan — is earmarked for the
Glen Cove Golf Course. A total of $2.86 million will fund a complete replacement of the course’s half-century-old irrigation system and a surprise emergency repair to the steel bridge at the 12th hole, which was found to be in “critical condition,” according to Panzenbeck.
“If we wait any longer, we won’t have a golf course,” she said, noting that $275,000 of the bridge repair cost will be offset by a county grant. “We are totally committed to making the course better.”
The Department of Public Works will receive $2.4 million — or 35 of the plan — for a range of projects spanning roadwork, building repairs, and improvements to stormwater drainage. Highlights include $375,000 to address flooding along Woolsey Avenue, and $221,000 for rehabilitation of the Pulaski Street Garage’s second level. An additional $650,000 is set aside for residential street and drainage improvements.
Panzenbeck highlighted the importance of the funding, especially for flood-prone areas. “Stormwater infrastructure improvements and rehabilitation due to flooding conditions at Woolsey Avenue, Barber Lane, New Woods, and Clemens Street areas total $500,000,” she said. “We’ve had 67 tons of material removed from our storm drains after storms last fall.”
The capital plan also designates 20 percent of the funding — roughly $1.37 million — for emergency services. The Police Department will receive $462,000 for patrol vehicles, a long-overdue emergency generator, and a new boiler at headquarters. “They haven’t had heat for close to a year,” Panzenbeck noted.
The Fire Department will use its $396,000 allocation to replace aging radio systems, self-contained breathing apparatus cylinders, turnout gear and a fire chief’s vehicle. Building upgrades, including a new air-conditioning unit for the firehouse, are also included. “We need to take good care of our firemen, because, believe me, they take good care of us,” Panzenbeck said.
Emergency medical services will receive $486,000 for new cardiac monitors and CPR equipment, and to upgrade two ambulances. “They probably get upward of 3,000 calls a year,” Panzenbeck said. “And they seem to come all at the same time sometimes.”
Smaller allocations include $404,000 for improvements in city parks — including floating docks at Garvies Point, ADA upgrades at Crescent Beach and surveillance systems at Stanco Park — as well as $52,500 for citywide IT upgrades and $30,000 for the city clerk’s digitization of vital records.
Many of the projects included in the plan are offset by grant funding. “People always say go out and get grants, but grants aren’t really gifts,” Panzenbeck explained. “We have to borrow the money first and then get reimbursed later.”
She emphasized that the plan is part of a broader, multi-year infrastructure plan with departmental priorities evaluated annually. “The long-term evaluation provides the city’s strategic vision and direction for infrastructure, equipment, vehicle and public safety resource improvements over the next several years,” she said. “Priorities may change, but our commitment to improvement does not.”
Panzenbeck concluded by affirming Glen Cove’s proactive approach: “We usually try to borrow approximately $5 million, but this year we are committed to improving the golf course — and the future of our city.”
