New Niles financial plan could spare cuts
Heeding the advice of council, Mayor Thomas Scarnechia made changes to his financial recovery plan. The changes aim to not only get the city out of the red but, hopefully lay the foundation for financial stability into the future.

NILES, Ohio - An ultimatum in Niles Wednesday night, gave the mayor until December 19th to come up with a viable recovery plan or Council President Bob Marino said the city could face massive cuts.
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Heeding the advice of council, Mayor Thomas Scarnechia made changes to his financial recovery plan. The changes aim to not only get the city out of the red but, hopefully lay the foundation for financial stability in the future.
Among the changes:
- A water plan: money towards maintenance, installation of water meters and replacing fire hydrants.
- Also, a savings account toward replacing fire trucks.
- An evaluation of city owned buildings to determine upkeep and the cost of work.
One item of debate: a proposed labor pool of 4-6 new labor employees to be used where the administration feels fit.
In exchange, the city administration says the union wants a mechanics job filled.
"I just want to walk forward with due diligence, make sure we are doing this the right way. I again, don't like being leveraged," said Finance Chairman Barry Steffey.
Other parts of the plan call for money toward road resurfacing. And a review of city assets.
"Are you all in agreement with this?," asked Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia.
Council seemed on board but, circled back to the bottom line.
"This is great but are the funds going to be there?," said Councilman Steven Mientkewicz.
"As of right now we feel confident that with this current information we shared with you and the stuff that was already sent to you guys, we should be able to make this work," said city Auditor Giovanne Merlo.
City leaders says the proposed plan does not call for any layoffs.
"We could have approved this (plan) without this (changes) but, we as a group, as a body have determined that there are too many broken systems or, no systems at all, so we're going to implement them and force change," said Steffey after the meeting. "We need to embrace change, we need to embrace accountability and not just use the word 'transparency.'"
The plan will be presented to state auditors, then placed before council for a vote.