Niles officials submit 7th version of financial recovery plan

NILES

Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia and city council have provided the city’s fiscal commission with a seventh try at a fiscal recovery plan.

The purpose of the plan is to “restore the fiscal integrity of the city” and serve as a “master plan” by which all future appropriation measures must comply, the 22-page document says.

The biggest change in the plan, compared with the last one, is turning over income tax collections to the Regional Income Taxing Agency and eliminating the city’s income tax department.

The switch to RITA will begin immediately with collection of six months of data. Full collection by RITA will begin Jan. 1.

One of the tax department’s three employees is retiring, and the other two will work in other departments, Scarnecchia said.

The change saves the city $42,000 per year compared with current costs, and RITA has the potential to deliver additional revenue to the city, possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in tax collections, said Ed Stredney, Niles service director.

Another increase in revenue in the plan is a $10 increase in license-plate fees, which will raise at least $335,000 per year for a street improvement program.

Read more about the plan in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.