Mayor: Decision on outsourcing Niles income tax collections will be made by next week

NILES

A decision to outsource the city’s income-tax department or keep it in house could come by next Wednesday’s council meeting, Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia said Tuesday.

The mayor said he is waiting to see the results of the five-year financial forecast being compiled by the city’s state-appointed financial supervisors and city Auditor Giovanne Merlo.

“I’m still working on all the facts and figures, and it all depends on the forecast,” the mayor said after a brief meeting with the auditors. “What [the auditors] project remains to be seen.”

The mayor said he expects to render a decision “before the end of the month” if the forecast is not ready by the council meeting.

“I will do whatever is best for the city of Niles,” Scarnecchia said.

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost has strongly criticized the mayor in Vindicator interviews for not going along with the supervisors’ recommendation to outsource. The recommendation is based on the findings of the 2014 performance audit, which determined that the city could save $138,000 annually by outsourcing collections to the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA).

Scarnecchia’s predecessor Ralph Infante had included outsourcing the department in his financial-recovery plan last December.

Read more about the situation in Wednesday's Vindicatror or on Vindy.com.