Concerned Butler County residents shouldn't be relieved now that the county commissioners have decided to restore most of the funding they have traditionally provided to worthy entities such as Butler County Community College, the Community Development Corporation of Butler County, United Way, the county library system, plus about two dozen other agencies.

Instead of being relieved, they should be troubled that the commissioners, to restore the funding, opted for the easy approach of proposing a 2.5-mill tax increase without also imposing cost savings within the county bureaucracy.

Commissioner James Kennedy questioned the $2.5 million allotted in the proposed 2008 budget for court administration, but that was a meaningless gesture without his providing a specific proposal about how much he felt that figure could be trimmed without jeopardizing the operation.

He put forth an idea, but apparently did not do his homework in terms of offering alternative ideas.

In a government the size of Butler County's, there have to be options for saving money that the current commissioners have ignored, for whatever reason. For example, the county existed in the past with a smaller workforce, and it's reasonable to believe that it could do so again, if county leaders were committed to that end.

Private companies routinely cut staffing when business factors force that action — and the work still gets done.

That the commissioners didn't come forward with at least one significant ready-to-implement cut along with the proposed tax increase shows that they didn't try very hard to make any adjustment to business-as-usual.

Meanwhile, the taxpayers' burden tied to construction of the new county prison — the cost of which was woefully underestimated — will continue to mount.

In fact, it is the poorly thought-out prison project that has imposed the fiscal challenges that the county government will endure in 2008 (and beyond), not the needs of the community college, Community Development Corporation and others — the impression that the commissioners tried to convey in their initial budget presentation.

Meanwhile, a number of costly prison-related decisions remain to be made, including one big one dealing with how city parking requirements tied to the project will be met. The new commissioners board that will take office in January — Kennedy will be the only holdover — will have the not-so-easy task of dealing with the failures of the soon-to-be-departed board.

A well-thought-out, comprehensive prison plan would not have left such issues unresolved so late in the process, but less-than-stellar leadership has allowed the current situation to evolve, along with its troubling financial consequences.

Outgoing Commissioner Glenn Anderson, commenting on the issue of restoring funding to the college and other agencies, said:

"I don't want to go out of office and be labeled a 'tax and spend Democrat.' (But) we either have to bite the bullet and raise taxes or let the new board raise taxes. I can't let my ego get in the way of helping good people."

Unfortunately, that statement ignores the good people whose tax bills would increase as a result of Anderson's — and Kennedy's — inattention to, or failure to comprehend, the full scope of issues tied to the prison project they initiated, resulting in so many remaining loose ends, as well as potentially costly pending litigation involving the general contractor.

It was the votes of Kennedy and Anderson that decided the course and imposed the excessive long-term financial obligations associated with this prison project. Now, only Kennedy will have to live with those decisions and answer to the taxpayers for the next four years.

Anderson and Commissioner Scott Lowe, in leaving office next month, will hand over future decisions to Commissioners-elect Dale Pinkerton and James Lokhaiser. It is to be hoped that they will be leaders with the determination to reopen the 2008 spending plan and find ways to lessen or avoid the "easy approach" chosen by the current commissioners.

It's great that the agencies and others won't be hit with the cuts that the commissioners initially proposed, but it's no consolation that so many cash-strapped property owners are facing a bigger tax burden.

The county's current budget situation remains an embarrassment, despite the restored agency funding.