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Niles mayor offers revised recovery plan
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
Mayor Ralph Infante, required to resubmit his 35-point financial recovery plan by the commission overseeing the city’s finances, asked council to approve his plan containing three revisions – a surprise since only one change was expected.
Last week, the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission rejected the plan after Auditor Charles Nader said he could not complete installation of payroll on the city’s software system by Monday as required in Infante’s package.
Under state law, the entire plan had to be rejected even though the commission had no issues with the other points.
The commission was created after Niles was declared in fiscal emergency by the state auditor last October.
Infante’s new plan, which council is expected to approve at Wednesday’s meeting, sets a deadline of Aug. 1, which Nader previously indicated would be sufficient.
Infante said one of the two additional changes contains substantial savings for the city. Under the proposal, the city would join the Trumbull County Health District, eliminating its own health department, which the mayor said will save $131,000 the remainder of this year and $262,000 annually.
The other requires city Treasurer Robert Swauger to explore the use of the Regional Income Tax Agency for income-tax collections. Commission Chairwoman Sharon Hanrahan previously told The Vindicator she believes RITA would improve the city’s collections despite the cost of using the agency.
Swauger also has been under fire for the time it is taking to reconcile all the city’s financial accounts, a process that has been going for several months. That delay is addressed in Infante’s plan, which requires monthly reconciliations to be completed no later than the 11th of the following month.
“We all know what’s going on here,” Infante told council, “and the state auditors tell us the 11th of the month is enough time.”
The heart of the plan is an increase in the city income tax by 0.25 percent, which voters must approve. Council must act this summer to have the issue on the November ballot so collections can begin in 2016.
Council has another revenue issue to contend with, and this one has nothing to do with the recovery plan.
According to Mark Hess, grant and development coordinator, rate increases beyond the annual 15 percent hikes already approved through 2017 will be necessary to secure the $38 million loan for the new wastewater treatment plant.
Hess said deficits resulting from annual loan payments are projected by 2018 and unless they are eliminated, the city will not get the loan.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency ordered the city to build a new plant. The EPA determined the current plant does not meet agency standards.