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Mostly Cloudy Maragos calls for transparency at City Hall
If he wants to become the next mayor of Glen Cove, George Maragos says he’ll need to use his background in finance as the former county comptroller to give back to his community, all while tackling issues of transparency within city hall.
Maragos began his political career as a Republican, but switched parties in 2016. The shift happened, he says, when he offered to visit minority communities while campaigning for comptroller, but was criticized by fellow Republicans for the idea.
That led Maragos to discover what he described as institutional corruption within the Republican Party that he no longer wanted to be a part of.
As comptroller, Maragos monitored the county budget and its financial operations, audited government agencies — and agencies with county contracts — in search of waste and abuse. He also reviewed county contracts and claims.
As a result, Maragos is concerned with transparency from the current city administration. When he asked to review audited financial statements from 2022, Maragos says he was referred to the clerk’s office three timess.
City officials told Maragos the documents weren’t available, he said, coming on the heels of a report from state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli a few weeks ago that found Glen Cove was “susceptible” to fiscal stress. Cash reserves, DiNapoli said, were less than 5 percent of the city’s annual spending.
During his own days as a comptroller, Maragos reported on matters that affected the county’s financial health and operations, worked with the administration and the legislature to help the county overcome its fiscal financial challenges, and oversaw the preparation of Nassau’s annual financial report.
Much closer to home in Glen Cove, however, Maragos is concerned about empty storefronts and crumbling infrastructure. He also has a lot of thoughts about increased bacteria levels at the city’s beaches caused by pollution. If elected, Maragos says one of his first priorities would be to fix Glen Cove’s finances.
And he’s seen the effects of those financial problems firsthand in what he has described as an “erosion” of the city’s quality of life. Neighbors told Maragos about unpaved roads, excessive speeding and noise pollution.
In the same vein, Maragos says delaying repairs to downtown parking garages will cost the city more money in the long run. Glen Cove has funds for the repairs, he added, but officials are simply not allocating it to what he believes is a high safety concern.
Maragos also disapproves of the city’s use of one-shot revenues — money that might be collected one year, but not in later years — saying the use stemmed from badly underestimated budgetary expenditures. Raising employee salaries while cutting back on benefits didn’t make sense, he said, and likely resulted from increased expenditures for supplies and maintenance, which rose by 20 percent.
When it comes to city-operated facilities, Maragos believes maintaining structures that keep to the city’s specific wants and needs are vital. That includes redeveloping a site on Lattingtown Road that has been the focus of a number of different elected officials.
The current request for proposal was written to accommodate a larger company, Maragos said. He suggests that request be withdrawn to accommodate a more modest facility.
“I think we need to look at how the RFP was being structured,” Maragos said. “The facility does need an upgrade, but it seems as though (the request for proposals) was made for a pre-determined outcome.”
