By Hank Russell
A recent report issued by the New York State Comptroller’s Office found that Glen Cove was one of four cities that were designated as “susceptible” to fiscal stress. This was based on the city’s finances for the fiscal year ending (FYE) in 2025.
Based on the comptroller’s Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS), the city had a score of 47.1. (Susceptibility to fiscal stress is greater than or equal to a fiscal score of 45. A score of 65 or higher indicates “significant” stress.)
As one of the four cities most susceptible to stress, Glen Cove’s score was lower than that of Johnstown’s (47.5), Schenectady’s (47.9) and Elmira’s (53.8), according to the report.
The report pointed out that cities are facing “increasing pressure” due to rising inflation and operating costs. With federal COVID funding having come to an end, many cities have resorted to using their fund balances just to pay for expenses.
Last month, the comptroller’s office “highlight[ed] recent trends in planned property tax cap overrides [which showed] that cities are more likely to report they are planning to override the tax cap than any other class of government and that the share of cities planning overrides has risen in recent years.”
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to the City of Glen Cove for comment.
“Fiscal year 2025 did not end as we had intended and unfortunately, we realized an operating deficit for the first time in four consecutive years of operating surpluses,” said city spokesperson Roni Jenkins.
Jenkins attributed the fiscal score the the fact that the city was operating a deficit in FYE 2025 and “not having positive operating results” from FYE 2023 to 2025. “We have been there before and will be laser focused on reversing course and achieving positive operating results.”