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RITA second hearing held in Salem, still under debate

SALEM–City council continued to move forward Tuesday on legislation for the Regional Income Tax Agency known as RITA, but also heard comments against the idea by both the current city treasurer and previous treasurer.

With approval of the second reading came the addition of the words “as approved by council” to the ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter an agreement with RITA for the administration and collection of the city income tax. That means, any agreement or contract must come before council for approval.

Finance Committee Chairman Councilman Andrew Null explained afterwards that if the ordinance gets final approval during a vote expected at the Dec. 3 meeting, then Mayor John Berlin will negotiate an agreement taking into consideration some points important to the city, such as requiring RITA to have a representative at city hall on tax day.

The proposed agreement will then come to council, either through Finance Committee or Committee of the Whole, for a review and recommendation. If favorable, the proposal will then come to all of council for a vote.

There was some discussion about what the amendment made by Councilman Geoff Goll at the last meeting actually meant, as approved by

council, and city Law Director Brooke Zellers said Goll was correct in saying the agreement would have to be brought back to council.

Zellers noted that the contract that was already provided to the mayor has nothing in there about having RITA come to the city for tax day and also doesn’t take into account what happens with the additional .25 percent income tax that’s strictly for street, alley, parking lot, sidewalk, storm sewer and gutter improvements. The proposed 3 percent that RITA would charge for its collection would have to come from another source since that tax is limited in its usage.

Councilwoman Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey said this isn’t something that needs to be approved by Jan. 1, giving council time to look at the contract. She said she knows she voted no last time against the amendment for requiring council approval, but then she thought that council looks at other contracts before they’re approved and it’s probably a good idea.

Berlin said he would like to know that council’s behind the agreement and will be happy to negotiate. Dickey said she would like to know if it’s going forward before city officials like the mayor and law director put a lot of work into it. The mayor pointed out it’s been discussed since April.

Treasurer K. Bret Apple and his predecessor, Dr. John Conrad, both addressed council regarding RITA, with Apple touching on the fact that the money to pay RITA for collecting the .25 percent additional income tax would have to come from somewhere else. One by one, he tried to address some of the points brought up previously, saying he doesn’t remember the RITA representatives ever saying they could save the city $80,000. He said the city should stick with the savings estimate they did provide, which was for $52,000.

One of the driving points made about switching to RITA is the ability for electronic filing of income tax returns. Apple said he checked on the costs for the city to do it and there would be a $5,200 set-up fee and a $1,000 annual cost. If it’s that important, the existing income tax office can do that. He also gave some examples of issues with RITA in communities who have the service, with one taxpayer receiving a letter saying they had not filed a return when they did and they had already paid. The letter came three times and then they tried to charge the person late fees. Another issue was discovered by the Salem tax office for a person with a Leetonia address who doesn’t live inside the village limits and who had business income in Salem. The person’s tax preparer filed a Leetonia tax return with RITA in error. The person had received a non-filing letter from Salem related to the business income.

Apple also brought up the fact that the city sent out a survey to citizens regarding a single hauler trash collection to gauge their thoughts. That was not done with RITA.

“Why didn’t we ask the citizens of the town what they thought about this?” he said, also adding a comment about not trying to force this down their throats.

Conrad said RITA’s guarantee of savings is no guarantee.

“I can’t believe you’re dumb enough to go for a deal when you don’t have a set price,” he said.

Then Conrad talked about Columbiana County Republican Party Chairman David Johnson, getting puppets elected to council and the use of cartoons in the recent election regarding the RITA issue. He said “when you can’t address the issue, you attack the candidate.”

He talked about RITA making interest off of the city’s money that the city itself could be making and said to council members “you need to cut the strings and quit listening to people like him.”

He said they’re elected to make up their own minds, not what someone else tells them to do.

During Pleasure of Council, Dickey and At Large Councilmen Roy Paparodis and Sal Salvino made some comments, with Dickey saying she’s watched the three At Large council members, which also includes Null, grow over their time on council and making some tough decisions. All are Republicans and she said they don’t need to fill anyone’s shoes. They all stand on their own two feet and her opponent in the election, who was unsuccessful, was looking to fill her shoes.

Paparodis said out of the hundreds of resolutions and ordinances he’s voted upon, only a couple of times has anyone asked him for his vote. With RITA, several people have asked from both sides for his vote, so no matter how he votes, he said he could be considered a puppet for either side. He said it’s a shame how everything has gotten so political, saying it’s polarized council.

“It’s time to get back to work and do what we’re elected to do,” Salvino said.

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