If the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is sold, more than half of the roughly 200 workers would be eligible for a pension.

Butler County Controller Jack McMillin said at the county retirement board meeting Thursday morning that workers with at least eight years of employment are eligible for a pension regardless of their age due to the involuntary termination clause under state law.

The law would allow these covered workers to collect their pensions now, instead of waiting until they are closer to retirement age.

However, someone who is eligible, but young, would get a smaller monthly pension check than someone closer to the usual retirement age because the younger recipient would get checks for a longer time.

To better nail down the potential cost, the retirement board has hired the Hay Group of Philadelphia for $3,500 to determine how much money the county needs to place in the pension fund to cover the possible retirements.

In an interview, McMillin said he thinks the pension fund has enough money to cover these pensions or at least close to the amount needed. Any shortfall, he said, could be covered by the proceeds from Sunnyview’s sale.

“If I thought that the sale would have a negative impact on the pension fund, I would have been screaming bloody murder,” McMillin said in an interview.

At the meeting, he mentioned $5 million as a possible amount that could be needed.

County officials maintain Sunnyview should be sold due to its annual deficit, which is projected at roughly $1 million for 2014.

The county is seeking proposals from prospective buyers, which must bid at least $13.5 million by Dec. 13.

Commissioners Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton support the sale. Commissioner Jim Eckstein and SEIU Healthcare, the union representing Sunnyview workers, are fighting the sale.

As of Nov. 15, the county pension fund, which is mostly in the form of investments, totaled nearly $169 million.

As of September, there were 779 county employees in the plan with 462 retirees or beneficiaries receiving monthly payments.

From January through September, the county paid an average monthly total of $592,376, or an average $1,282 per person.