It has been no secret to the Butler County Salary Board that the Area Agency on Aging has been having difficulty keeping up with reimbursement checks to the approximately 35 people who care for the elderly.

The normal turnaround schedule for the checks - some of which could be as much as $500 - is generally six to eight weeks, but the agency has fallen back by a month beyond that. The problem has been blamed upon attrition within the office and two employees' leaves due to medical problems.

While it is easy to sympathize with the manpower problems the office has been enduring, the salary board should not have waited until now to address it. On Wednesday, the board approved hiring a temporary employee until the workers on medical leave return.

Meanwhile, it is troubling that as agency director, Lisa Monday has not taken the hands-on initiative, by virtue of her supervisory position, to keep the flow of checks moving while continuously seeking help via the salary board, which includes all three county commissioners. Thirty-five checks aren't a burgeoning task.

That a county government that continually records multimillion-dollar fund balances can't go to bat more quickly for people of lesser means who are dependent upon the money in question should raise the eyebrows of all county residents.

The Area Agency on Aging leadership must react to unfortunate circumstances, and so must the salary board.

Preparing only a couple of checks a day could have cut the extra-month delay by half or more.