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HUBBARD -- The upcoming year looks to be one centered on upgrades, with one being focused on saving the city money on income tax collection, according to Mayor Ben Kyle on Tuesday.
Kyle said during caucus ahead of the city council's regular meeting that the city will have "a lot of" internal protocols and upgrades that his office wishes to see happen throughout the rest of the year and 2027.
One of those things is discussing moving the city's income tax collection to the Regional Income Tax Agency, which nearly 400 cities and villages across the state use and operate as a nontax collection agent to handle local tax administration, collection and enforcement for its member communities.
Five Mahoning County entities utilize RITA for their tax collection -- Campbell, Lowellville, Sebring and Youngstown, as well as the Youngstown-Girard Joint Economic Development Zone, and four Trumbull communities -- Girard, McDonald, Newton Falls and Niles -- use it.
"We are one of the last holdouts, if you will, of the area that still has an income tax department, a community of our size," Kyle said. "RITA would come in and be the agency that handles all the taxes for the folks in our community."
Kyle said anyone in the city and township's joint economic development district will be able to work with their accountants and information technology staff, and residents will be able to file taxes online and "really take a step forward" into the 21st century.
Kyle noted that communities he's spoken to that have made the jump to RITA over the past 10 to 15 years have seen more collections, as well as the reliability and efficiency of such income tax collection.
Kyle said he's spoken with City Auditor Michael Villano and Service Director Ed Palestro, who, along with Kyle, received a presentation from a RITA representative, explaining that they feel the current department would serve as a liaison over the coming years as their employee slows down for retirement purposes.
"If they have questions, they'll be able to come in and talk to her, and she'll be able to direct them to RITA," Kyle said. "I think it's a fantastic opportunity for us to become much more efficient, and be able to go after folks that are non-filers -- maybe people that have issues with income taxes -- would be a great way to help solve that."
Villano said RITA would be a more cost-effective option, if council would choose to pursue it.
"We did get a proposal back from them -- it's about half of what it's costing us to run that department now," Villano said.
Villano said he feels transitioning the department to RITA would be the critical issue, and it isn't his decision to make.
Kyle said summer 2027 would be the transition point, so city officials could actively work to notify the public about changes, adding that his report was only the first meeting of it to see which direction they would go, but officials will have more internal discussions with the administration.