Niles mayor wants ‘no part of’ Regional Income Tax Agency

January 7, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

NILES

The admission by the Regional Income Tax Agency that personal data of 50,000 Ohio taxpayers is missing may impact Niles’ decision to move forward with using RITA and eliminate its income-tax department, as part of its plan to recover from fiscal emergency.

“I wasn’t in favor of using RITA in the first place, and now I know more than ever that I want no part of them,” Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia told The Vindicator after Wednesday’s council meeting.

The income-tax agency has revealed that a backup DVD containing personal information including names, birthdates and Social Security numbers from municipal tax documents filed prior to June 2012 is missing. Among RITA’s client cities whose data may have been breached are Youngstown, Girard, Campbell and East Palestine.

Scarnecchia, while mayor-elect, had spoken out against RITA last December before the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission, which oversees city spending.

Scarnecchia said that representatives from the state auditor’s office have told him that despite his reservations, he has to follow the plan, which was approved by city council and the commission. He opposes another plan provision that would turn over police dispatching to Trumbull County, eliminating Niles police dispatchers.

The plan projects total savings of more than $136,000 by eliminating the tax department and dispatchers. Scarnecchia is looking for an alternative.

“The state has told us we must go along with it, but we’re hoping to find a way to keep what we have,” the mayor said.

However, the city’s state-appointed financial supervisor Tim Lintner adamantly stated during the December commission meeting that no other money is available. Lintner said the RITA and dispatcher components are integral to balancing the budget each year, which the state requires for municipalities in fiscal emergency.

“I’m sure [the mayor] shares the goal of getting Niles out of fiscal emergency, but he needs to talk to the commission about that,” said Quentin Potter, commission chairman, when contacted by The Vindicator Wednesday. “We need to see what he’s coming forward with and council will have to approve it.” The commission does not meet again until Jan. 27.

“The current plan, if implemented, would balance the budget and move Niles out of fiscal emergency,” Potter said.

Two other commission members, council President Robert Marino and Fremont Camerino, said they were withholding judgment until they discuss the situation with the mayor and state auditors. Councilman Steven Mientkiewicz, D-2, said he wants the city to “sit down with RITA and find out what is going on.”

Another major plan component, increasing the city income tax by 0.50 percent, will be placed before the voters in the March primary election, but if approved, the $2 million revenue it would generate would be for safety forces only. The revenue is not included in the annual balanced budget of the current recovery plan.

“We have to hope that the levy passes so that we don’t have to lay people off,” said Scarnecchia.