Taxpayers of Butler Township need to pay attention to the cost associated with hiring a company to evaluate the efficiency of the township’s administrative staff.

The question from residents must be whether what’s gained from the study really will stack up reasonably against the financial investment that would be involved.

Many residents might justifiably question the need for the study, with the township commissioners having been elected in part to make important decisions regarding day-to-day operations.

By virtue of their elected positions, the commissioners should welcome the opportunity to make the decision on whether additional people are needed, or whether duties can be consolidated to trim the size of the current staff.

Meanwhile, whether the proposed evaluation would be a waste of money is for each township taxpayer to decide and make that opinion known to the commissioners.

The proposed evaluation would focus on just seven employees, all of whom are not in a union: the township manager, Ed Kirkwood, who favors the study; the office assistant; zoning officer; zoning clerk; regulatory inspector; fire marshal; and road department secretary.

According to Kirkwood, it’s good business practice to have a third party give an unbiased opinion.

For some municipalities he’s right. However, the size of Butler Township’s staff would not pose too much of a hardship for the commissioners to do the evaluation themselves.

A study like the one being proposed could provide great benefits for a municipality of Pittsburgh’s size. However, for Butler Township, the study’s benefits would seem to be very limited.

Some taxpayers likely will view the purpose of the study solely to justify increasing the size of the township staff. That wouldn’t be an unreasonable observation.

That’s because the commissioners are capable of deciding such issues on their own.

But some elected officials don’t like to propose additional hirings, even if there’s a need that can be justified. They prefer to act based on someone else’s advice.

Instead of paying for a study, the commissioners could gather valuable information without significant cost merely by making calls to similar-sized municipalities.

The proposed hiring, as discussed at a commissioners meeting Monday, qualifies for input from township taxpayers before a study company is hired and given the go-ahead to proceed.