NILES, Ohio - Niles income tax revenue increased by nearly $1 million in 2018 over the previous year, which City Treasurer Stephen Telego attributes to the work of the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA).

The treasurer told city council Wednesday "revenue was 2.5 percent more" than it was in 2017, the last year the city used its own tax department which it abolished when RITA began collections for the city in 2018. At the time, the city had been in state-declared fiscal emergency. Telego said RITA has determined nearly $268,000 in delinquent taxes are owed to the city over a period of several years. More than $41,000 of that figure has been collected according to figures provided by the treasurer.

“RITA has issued administrative subpoenas to collect the delinquent payments,” Telego told 21 News after the meeting. “The next step is a court-issued subpoena if they don’t respond.” 

Meanwhile, a visibly angry Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz denied allegations of misuse of a park fund grant. Several residents alleged to council and the state that grant funds allocated solely for mulch at the city’s Waddell Park had been diverted to Stevens Park, which they claimed violates the grant. “That’s ridiculous,” the mayor said.

“We completed the mulching at Waddell Park before it was moved anywhere else,” Mientkiewicz said. “The state told us we were free to use the leftover mulch to beautify another park, and that’s what we did.” The mayor said state officials “couldn’t believe the pettiness of the comments.”