Niles fiscal commission approves recovery plan

By Jordan Cohen

news@vindy.com

NILES

Despite emotional pleas from city employees, the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission approved the amended five-year recovery plan designed to get the city out of fiscal emergency.

The vote was not unanimous. John Davis, commission member, who criticized some of the plan’s provisions throughout Monday’s meeting, cast the lone dissenting vote.

Despite approval, the package may face yet another revision because Mayor-elect Thomas Scarnecchia told the surprised commission he may change the sections he opposes after he takes office Jan. 1.

“We’re going to revisit all of this,” Scarnecchia said. “We don’t want to lose the income-tax department or the [police] dispatchers. We don’t want to lose anyone.”

Scarnecchia was referring to the plan’s provisions to outsource tax collections to the Regional Income Tax Agency eliminating the income-tax department, and turning over dispatching services from the police department to Trumbull County. The plan estimates a total savings of $136,000 in 2016 for eliminating both.

Police Chief Robert Hinton, his voice trembling, told the commission the plan’s provisions to eliminate minimum manning and dispatching will not work because even the current minimum staffing of four police officers is not enough to adequately protect the city. Hinton said dispatchers handle domestic-violence calls and provide what the chief described as “a safe haven” for victims.

“Who will man the station [and] who’s going to protect [the victims]?” Hinton asked, adding he was never consulted about the plan before it was approved by council last week. “Where is it safe for our city and our police officers?” he said.

“You don’t want to hear a sob story, but this is my livelihood,” said Jill Montevideo, a dispatcher for more than 27 years, who suggested the commission look at enterprise money instead of general funds to cover the costs of the department.

“One thing that’s missing in this plan is the word ‘compassion,’” Davis said.

The plan had to be amended after voters rejected a 0.25 percent income-tax increase in November, but Tim Lintner, the city’s financial supervisor, said revenue from the amended plan’s key component, a 0.50 percent increase in the city income tax, has not been included this time. If voters approve it in March, the increase will generate $2 million annually.

“The budget is balanced without income-tax passage,” Lintner said.

Davis constantly challenged Lintner about the accuracy of his figures and savings projections. The financial supervisor stood by his estimates on cost savings computed through Niles’ new software accounting system.

“The city is light years ahead in financial reporting than where it was last year,” Lintner said. “Now, we know where we are.”

Mayor Ralph Infante, whose term expires at the end of the month, put the revised plan together at the urging of commission Chairman Quentin Potter although council President Robert Marino, a commission member, had suggested waiting until the Scarnecchia administration takes office.

Potter said at the time the wait could have led to the state imposing a reduction of expenditures to 85 percent of the amount spent in 2014 – a move that would require widespread layoffs.

“It is necessary for something to be in place, and spending and revenues have to balance,” Potter said. “It’s not perfect, [but] it is an accurate plan.”

The commission’s next meeting is Jan. 27.