Although the Butler County commissioners decided not to open the 2016 county budget and change the property tax rate, they will work to cut spending by $5 million this year.

“We’re still on the same path,” said Commissioner Leslie Osche, board chairman.

Taking office Jan. 4, Osche and other commissioners Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel inherited a tough situation.

In December, former commissioners Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton approved the $150.7 million budget with a 27.6-mill property tax rate. That includes a 3-mill tax increase.

Former Commissioner Jim Eckstein voted against the budget.

As soon as they took office, the new commissioners began to look at the budget to see if it could be changed.

On Jan. 20, they announced that they would not seek to modify the budget because the revenue projections were too tight to make major changes.

But Geyer said just because the commissioners will not officially reopen the budget does not mean they cannot work to cut expenses throughout the year.

“It’s a working document,” Geyer said. “Nothing is off the table. We’re talking about everything.”

Osche said personnel is the county’s biggest cost, so it makes sense to look at it first.

Boozel said the commissioners are looking at ways to be more efficient, which can involve items as minor as office supplies. Although these are minimal, Boozel said nothing can be ignored, and he noted that it is minor items that have grown consistently in the budget.

He said simply coming into office and slashing the budget is not an effective way to do business.

Meetings on Monday

In advance of any changes to rein in spending, the commissioners plan to meet Monday with row officers and department heads. The meetings will not be public.

Osche said the meetings will be an official introduction of the commissioners to those employees and will allow the commissioners to discuss their goals and methods of making budget cuts.

Geyer said the meetings will have discussions related to topics such as personnel. She said no voting or decision-making will take place at the meetings, saying they will be “strictly informational.”

If actions are to happen, she said they would occur at a public meeting.

If meetings such as these where sensitive subjects such as personnel are discussed were public, not only could there be legal issues, but Geyer said it would be hard to get an open and honest discussion with the row officers and department heads.

“We all want good government, and we need the opportunity to discuss this,” Geyer said.

County solicitor Mike English said the meetings do not fit the requirements of public meetings under the state’s Sunshine Act.

“It’s an administrative meeting,” English said.

Geyer said that in her four years as an administrative assistant in the commissioners’ office from 2012 to the end of 2015, she cannot recall meetings like these being held.

Boozel said the commissioners want the employees to make suggestions at the meeting and later.

“We want them to be partners in this process,” Boozel said.

Chief clerk sought

At the first public meeting of the new commissioners on Jan. 4, it was announced former chief clerk Amy Wilson, who was the primary author of the county budget, no longer was employed by the county. The commissioners would not discuss the end of her employment, saying it was a personnel issue.

They also hired Gerald Patterson, a former manager of Butler Township, as interim chief clerk while searching for a permanent replacement.

The position has been posted on the county’s website, saying the county is seeking someone with a degree in public or business administration who has knowledge of the state’s county code, with a preference for people with a financial or budgetary background.

“It’s well under way,” Boozel said of the search.

Osche said the commissioners are looking for someone who has plenty of experience with government accounting, but they also want someone who is an effective administrator and is a good “people person.”

“It is difficult to find both of those things in one person,” Osche said.

Geyer said about 20 people have applied but said she is not sure when interviews will occur.

Osche said the commissioners hope to have someone hired by the end of the first quarter but she is not sure if that deadline can be met.

Row officers react

County Controller Ben Holland said working with the new commissioners has been a “breath of fresh air.” He said he is glad to learn that they want to cut $5 million this year, saying that would bring expenditures about to the level of projected revenues for this year.

He said making cuts will be difficult since there are no big, easy cuts to be made.

Holland expects the commissioners to get a lot of resistance at Monday’s meetings. However, he said they can get a lot of cooperation if they are able to get row officers and department heads to look at the bigger picture.

“They’re going to have to make what I think are difficult decisions,” Holland said.

He said it is good that the commissioners started by making cuts in their own budget first, which included eliminating one administrative assistant — saving about $77,000.

“That needed to happen, and they did the right thing,” Holland said.

County Treasurer Diane Marburger said dealing with the new board has been unique.

“This board is a different board from any I’ve ever worked with because they are all new,” said Marburger, who took office in 2000.

She said the commissioners are all learning at the same time. She said her employees appreciated when the new commissioners stopped by to introduce themselves.

“I think they’re really getting into the nuts and bolts of the county,” Marburger said.

She said the meetings on Monday also are relatively unique.

When Commissioner Scott Lowe was in office, he held monthly meetings with all of the row officers and department heads to keep communication up between the commissioners’ office and the various departments, she said. These went on for a few months, but then ended, Marburger said.

She said meetings like this are common in business, so they would be a good concept for the county.

Lisa Lotz, clerk of courts, said she and the commissioners only have had one meeting so far.

“It went very well,” Lotz said.

Past that, she said it appears that they are settling in and working on adjusting to the county.

“They have a lot to learn,” Lotz said.