43
Niles chief won’t get raise
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN
Photo
Niles Police Chief Bruce Simeone.
For a second time, a judge has turned away the efforts of Niles Police Chief Bruce Simeone to get paid more.
Simeone, chief since 1996, sued the city in April 2009 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The chief asked the court to order city officials to pay him according to legislation Niles City Council approved in 2000, which said the chief was to be paid 10 percent more than the next-highest-ranked officer in the department.
In 2007, citing economic reasons, city council passed an ordinance that reduced the gap between the chief and the second-highest-paid officer to 5 percent and eliminated longevity pay for the chief. Both measures were effective Jan. 1, 2007.
Simeone said council members verbally assured him in 2000 that the terms of the 2000 ordinance were “permanent” regarding Simeone’s pay. But in his ruling, Judge Peter Kontos said he did not find any evidence that Simeone had a right to expect the 2000 legislation to be permanent.
Further, Simeone’s lawsuit said the chief is entitled to the greater amount of money on the grounds that the 2007 city council action violated his rights under the U.S. and Ohio constitutions to be protected from having his property — pay — taken from him.
Judge Kontos said Simeone’s suit is “just as easily stated as a complaint for back pay,” and added that the proper place for the matter is the city’s civil- service commission.
Simeone did not return a phone call seeking comment on the decision.
Earlier, Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court ruled against Simeone in a similar lawsuit. Simeone filed a taxpayer complaint in 2007 on behalf of Simeone and for all other Niles city taxpayers.
The 11th District Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Logan’s decision.
Simeone has said the 2007 ordinances reduced his pay by $31,957 from 2006 through 2008.
Base pay for Simeone in 2010 is $83,087, and base pay for the second-highest paid position in the department, captain, is $79,131, the Niles auditor’s office said.