There's no way of knowing at this time whether Butler County will decide to sell Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The county commissioners still are in the process of considering the issue.

But it's important to acknowledge Sunnyview workers' financial investment in trying to keep the home under county ownership.

The concessions to which they agreed in the new one-year contract approved Wednesday are significant. And, it must be observed, the concessions are unlike teachers unions in the county have been willing to accept.

While the approximately 200 Sunnyview workers covered under the contract agreed to begin contributing toward their health care benefits by way of a 1.5 percent deduction from their paychecks, teachers in the county have strongly opposed increases to their health care contributions, which currently are a pittance when compared with what many workers in private businesses and industries pay.

But more significant than the health care contribution, which must be regarded as a first step toward paying what they should be paying, is the fact that the new contract is not retroactive. There's no way any of the county's teachers unions would approve a contract without a retroactive provision, if a new pact is reached after the expiration date of their previous contract.

There has been no word that such a suggestion, which the South Butler Education Association would no doubt reject, has even been put forward in that school system's unresolved contract impasse.

The new Sunnyview pact covers the period Jan. 1, 2010, to Dec. 31, 2010.

The workers' latest contract — a four-year agreement — expired Nov. 30, 2008.

While the Sunnyview employees agreed to a 3 percent pay raise, which actually has been cut in half by the contribution-toward-health-care provision, county teachers unions have refused to settle their contracts for anything close to the Sunnyview workers' 1.5 percent net pay increase.

Indeed, the Sunnyview workers have made a notable investment in trying to keep the home as a county entity and, in the process, benefit taxpayers, while the teachers unions have rejected giving up anything and against tempering their pay-increase expectations, despite the rough economic times.

In the case of South Butler, teachers there are strongly opposed to even a 10-minute lengthening of their school day as they claim to be concerned foremost with the educational welfare of students.

The county was right in not agreeing to a union proposal for the new contract stating that the county would keep ownership of Sunnyview for a specific amount of time. With the uncertainty that Sunnyview's annual operating losses can be cut or halted, agreement to such a provision would have been foolhardy.

However, Commissioner James Lokhaiser, commenting on the workers' approval of the new pact, said he still hopes that the county will be able to keep Sunnyview.

"I think we're in a good position now with this contract," he said.

Kevin Hefty, vice president of long-term care for Service Employees International Union Healthcare, expressed the hope that county officials appreciate the good-faith effort shown in Wednesday's vote when negotiations for a new contract for 2011, and possibly beyond, begin.

That is a reasonable suggestion.

However, in the end, the decision on whether to sell, lease or retain Sunnyview rests with many other factors than the just-approved pact. The commissioners must decide what's best for the county in total, not just how the issue affects one group.

The board of commissioners is capable of making a responsible — and the correct — decision.

But the contract is not an insignificant part of the Sunnyview decision that lies ahead.

As Commissioner Dale Pinkerton pointed out, "We can start to move forward."

That's the only direction that is acceptable.