The City of Glen Cove’s proposed 2026 capital borrowing plan failed to pass Tuesday night with a 3-2 vote, because the City Council did not reach the required supermajority needed to approve the $4.9 million measure.
Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck presented the plan, which included funding for road paving, flood-mitigation infrastructure, water-treatment projects, emergency services equipment, city building repairs and golf course improvements.
“This plan continues our vision to repair, improve and invest in the city’s deteriorated infrastructure, which has been problematic for so many years,” Panzenbeck said at the meeting.
Projects included in the proposal ranged from Woolsey Avenue flooding infrastructure work and Seaman Road Station water-treatment upgrades to police vehicles, EMS cardiac monitors and repairs of municipal facilities.
The borrowing proposal required five affirmative votes from the seven-member council to pass. In addition to Panzenbeck, council members Danielle Fugazy Scagliola, Michael Ktistakis, Kevin Maccarone and John Zozzaro were in attendance, but Councilmen John Perrone and Grady Farnan were absent.
Zozzaro questioned the process by which projects were prioritized, and Zozzaro and Scagliola abstained from voting, arguing that council members should have been given more detailed information from department heads before voting on the package. “We are seven people that are on this dais that have to vote on this,” he said. “It’s $5 million. It’s not $20 [worth] of pens.”
Zozzaro requested that the vote be tabled for two weeks to allow additional review of department requests and capital priorities.
Fugazy Scagliola supported delaying the vote, citing concerns about approving a major borrowing package while two council members were absent. She also noted concerns about last year’s budget projections that focused on sales tax revenue the city expected to receive through its sales-tax-pre-emption plan.
“We were rushed into the budget vote,” Fugazy Scagliola said. “We’re definitely not going to see that money this year.”
Last summer, Glen Cove voted to pre-empt 1.5 percent of Nassau County’s local sales tax, shifting from a decades-old arrangement in which the county collected the revenue and returned a portion through property tax rebates. Under the plan, the city had anticipated beginning to collect the revenue directly in 2026 to help close budget gaps and support city services.
But the county never voted to approve the transfer in time for the city’s 2026 budget cycle, council members said.
In a call with the Herald, Panzenbeck acknowledged that the anticipated revenue would be delayed. “We’re not getting it as quickly as we thought,” she said, “but we’ll be ok.”
Fugazy Scagliola said the city is now expected to begin receiving the revenue in 2027 instead, and added, “We still have no idea how much it’s going to be.”
During the debate over the borrowing plan, Ktistakis defended it and pushed for a vote, saying council members and department heads had already spent significant time reviewing the city’s needs.
“About a week ago we sat together with all the department heads,” he said. “We all looked at each other. All departments gave in their order.”
The administration, Ktistakis said, had already significantly reduced the original requests for funding before arriving at the final borrowing amount.
“It started very high and it’s been slashed more than half to the respect of the taxpayers,” he said.
He also emphasized the urgency of several public safety and infrastructure projects. “When it comes down to the safety of residents where they live, so they can sleep at night, when it comes down to our first responders going out in the middle of the night, we all want good-quality water,” Ktistakis said. “I really can’t wait on these things.”
Maccarone also opposed delaying the vote, arguing that council members had opportunities to request more information before the meeting. “You’ve had a week and you haven’t requested it,” he told Zozzaro. “That doesn’t tell me that you want to do your due diligence.”
During the debate, Panzenbeck defended the administration’s process, noting that officials had spent months reviewing and cutting department requests that originally totaled roughly $12 million.
“This was very hard for us,” she said. “We had to cut a lot of things and really prioritize.”
The mayor also emphasized the urgency of several projects, including flood mitigation work in the Woolsey Avenue area and infrastructure repairs throughout the city.
“I need Woolsey Avenue fixed,” Panzenbeck said. “I need the equipment for my firemen and for my policemen and for my EMS and my roads.”
The proposal is expected to return for reconsideration in roughly two weeks. Fugazy Scagliola also noted that the borrowing plan does not have to be approved at a specific time of year, arguing that delaying the vote briefly would not significantly impact the city.
“Two weeks isn’t going to make or break this borrow,” she said.
