Marietta Council looking to trim the budget
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Marietta City Council continued its search Thursday night for ways to save money in the face of a performance audit that predicts its general fund could be depleted as early as 2025.
During a joint meeting of the City Council Finance and Employee Relations Committees Thursday night, Marietta tax department staff came to speak with council about their thoughts on a possible switch from the tax department to the Regional Income Tax Authority for collecting city income taxes.
According to Marietta Deputy Tax Administrator Bonnie Duff, Marietta City Council is considering closing the tax department and going with RITA for city income tax collection. RITA's website says it was created in 1971 to administer the income tax ordinance of any Ohio municipality that joins it. The website says that currently 400 cities and villages use RITA to handle their municipal tax collection and enforcement efforts and this is approximately 50% of Ohio municipalities with an income tax.
When asked, At-Large Councilman Harley Noland, who is a member of the Employee Relations Committee, confirmed if council chooses to go with RITA it would lead to tax department staff cuts.
"Yes, it would replace most of the staff," Noland said.
He did emphasize that right now the council is just conducting an initial study of the issue.
"We're looking at every department, every function of government," Noland said about council's efforts to consider RITA . "We're one by one looking at each of them."
Marietta Deputy Tax Administrator Bonnie Duff started the Thursday night meeting off by telling council, "You do not want RITA."
Duff provided emails and other information to council members supporting her assertion that they should not use RITA and went over it during the meeting. Duff also provided a copy to the Marietta Times. In a letter addressed to council and signed by Duff, Marietta Tax Specialist Melissa Dunbarger and Marietta Tax Specialist Cathy Drazenovich, the tax department brings in more revenue than some cities larger than Marietta.
"The Marietta (tax department) continues to improve operations every year," the letter said. "Our revenues reflect this ongoing commitment to our city we love."
Marietta Treasurer Cathy Harper is in charge of the tax department and according to an email print out provided by Duff, Harper said there is no cost savings to using RITA.
"The loss of human contact to the constituents cannot be measured," she said about the possibility of council picking RITA.
Ward 1 Councilmember and Finance Committee Chair Michael Scales sent an email to Harper on March 19 concerning RITA.
"The consensus of the council is that it is not just the cost, but the who, what, where, why and how RITA operates." In the email he invited Harper and her staff to make a presentation on the subject and confirmed in his email that no decision has been made on the subject.
Harper also said in the email printout that there are hidden costs associated with using RITA.
"We know there are hidden costs associated with RITA such as subpoenas, paralegals, certified mail, court fees, etc., many of these are handled by our law director, so there is no cost to our office," Harper said. "Is a potential savings of up to $40,000 (not including these hidden fees that I mentioned) worth the heartache we might cause our citizens?"
Harper pointed out that if the tax department is closed, constituents will not have a local tax office to go to for help but will instead have to spend hours on the phone trying to reach a real person. She also pointed out that the tax department does not use any overtime or comp time.
Duff wrote an opinion statement about the council possibly picking RITA and she shared that information at the meeting and with the Marietta Times.
Duff made suggestions in the opinion on how the tax department can save money, such as changing the credit residents are given for taxes they paid to other municipalities, stopping sending out business related tax forms and stopping including return envelopes with their mailings.
Duff pointed out in the opinion statement that RITA remits money to municipalities twice a month but the tax department deposits money daily and receives interest of 5.12% on tax money, which equaled $24,119 in 2023.
After the meeting Duff said the tax department found out council was looking at RITA by sending them an email asking them to provide information to RITA.
"They did not even ask us for ways to save money," Duff said. "We would've looked at our budget."
She said RITA has told council that it can provide municipal income tax services for $40,000 less than it cost the department to perform their work last year.
Scales said during the meeting that they met with the tax department and they will be meeting with RITA on April 1 at 5:15 p.m. at the Marietta Armory, Room 10, to get information.
"We want to get all the data," he said.
He told Duff she is more than welcome to come to the RITA meeting.
Council went into executive session at 5:45 p.m. during the meeting. Scales said the executive session was to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official, or the investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee, official, licensee, or regulated individual.
The agenda for the meeting said the executive session was to discuss the foreman II position.
During a March 27 joint meeting of the City Council Finance and Employee Relations Committees council spoke with department heads, informing them of possible staff cuts the city is considering to cut costs due to the audit.
During that meeting At-Large Councilwoman Cassidi Shoaf said that council is considering cutting the foreman II position in the public works department.
Shoaf confirmed that no action would be taken after the executive session.
Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com