Niles council approves 5th version of recovery plan; commission votes Wednesday

NILES

City council, in a special meeting today, unanimously approved the latest version of its five-year recovery plan from fiscal emergency, which forecasts positive general-fund balances reaching more than $2 million in 2020.

The plan will be submitted to the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission for final approval Wednesday. The commission has to review and approve city expenditures as long as the city remains in fiscal emergency, where it has been since state Auditor Dave Yost issued the emergency declaration in October 2014.

The positive balances are required by state law for the declaration to be lifted.

This is the fifth version of the plan, which was first introduced in late 2015 by ex-Mayor Ralph Infante before he left office at the end of the year. It was subsequently modified four times this year by Infante’s successor, Thomas Scarnecchia.

“I think it’s a good plan, and the state auditors are with us on it,” Scarnecchia said.

City Auditor Giovanne Merlo projects that by the end of next year, the general fund will be in the black by nearly $114,000.

Read more about this latest plan in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.