In these final days of the current Butler County Board of Commissioners, taxpayers are justified in asking why it opted to hire a private security firm to guard the new, under-construction prison instead of passing a motion for the Sheriff's Department to handle the job.

Instead of paying $20 an hour ($30 an hour for holidays or overtime) for a guard supplied by the private security company, there would be no additional cost to the county for having a sheriff's deputy carry out the guard function. The deputy sheriffs who would be assigned the prison site role already are being paid; they simply would be performing a duty other than their normal assignment.

Sheriff Dennis Rickard said Thursday morning during an interview at the Butler Eagle that an immediate decision by the commissioners to use his personnel in response to prison general contractor A.G. Cullen's Dec. 20 decision to walk off the job would simply have required the shifting of priorities for some of his personnel.

He said the commissioners did not contact him prior to opting for the private security firm. County taxpayers concerned about waste of taxpayer money can legitimately ask the commissioners for an explanation regarding this unnecessary spending.

Fortunately, the "temporary" contract with the private security company, Victory Security of Carnegie, Allegheny County, expires on Jan. 2. At that time, the commissioners should opt not to extend the pact and, instead, bring on the sheriff's deputies. To do otherwise would extend the current wasteful scenario.

What's troubling about the commissioners' prison security decision, besides the wasteful spending that continues to take place, is that from the moment they learned of Cullen's departure, the commissioners did not convene an emergency meeting to address the problem.

Such a meeting should not only have involved the commissioners, but also Rickard, other members of the prison board, and anyone else who might have been able to offer suggestions on how to proceed. Instead, the commissioners, acting on their own, apparently via telephone conversations, opted to spend money that they did not need to spend.

Regardless of the total security bill that is received from Victory Security, it will add to the additional financial burden already tied to the prison. The structure, which is under construction at West Cunningham and South Washington streets in Butler, already is projected to cost about $10 million more than the $30 million initial estimate. And, the total prison project cost could rise significantly, depending on how the legal morass over Cullen's departure plays out.

In addition, the unnecessary security expenditure is contrary to the claims of fiscal responsibility and guarding the taxpayers' best financial interests that are often heard from the current commissioners.

The commissioners owe the taxpayers an explanation for why they deviated from that purported concern for the taxpayers regarding construction-site security.

The taxpayers might not receive that explanation from Commissioner Scott Lowe, who was defeated for re-election in the spring Republican primary, or from Commissioner Glenn Anderson, who is retiring. But Commissioner James Kennedy, whose re-election campaign often touted his concern for taxpayers' dollars amid a record of service that the people of Butler County could trust, should not sit silently, hoping the issue will go away.

When they assume office next month, the new commissioners, Dale Pinkerton and James Lokhaiser, should not allow themselves to make shortsighted mistakes like the one the current board made following Cullen's exit.

The Sheriff's Department has the ability and manpower to perform the prison security task, without serious negative impacts on its overall duties. Taxpayers should demand that that resource be used and that the waste cease.