The Butler County salary board again failed to cut jobs when an impasse among its members resulted in the cancellation of today’s meeting.

County Commissioner Bill McCarrier, board chairman, said in an interview the meeting was scrubbed because there didn’t seem to be a consensus on what to do based on separate discussions with other members.

“There was nothing we were going to accomplish,” McCarrier said.

The three commissioners and county controller comprise the salary board. For any action to be taken, at least three board members must agree.

But McCarrier said the issue of eliminating county jobs due to the privatization the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center won’t be dropped.

“We need to study the agenda items further,” he said.

Part of Sunnyview’s annual deficit, which county officials cited as the need for a sale, were indirect costs that the county assessed to the nursing home.

Such indirect costs included hours spent by county government center employees on Sunnyview issues, which amounted to $295,609 in 2013.

The county this past spring sold the nursing home to Investment 360 of Lakewood, N.J.

Under the agenda for today’s canceled meeting, several jobs were proposed to be cut with additional office restructuring to create an eventual $173,077 in savings.

Information Technology would lose an assistant systems engineer who is paid $22.29 an hour salary, saving the county $79,650 in salary and benefits.

Under a revised proposal, the total savings would be $81,600.

The controller’s office would be reorganized. Among the changes would be replacing a full-time post with a part-time one.

Although the county estimated a total in $15,992 in savings, Controller Ben Holland said the actual number is roughly triple that amount.

A project manager post would be cut in the commissioners’ office. However, that part-time job paying $50 an hour has been vacant for more than a year and was not included in the $173,077 number.

Human Resources would cut a benefits administrator job and replace a $22.13-an-hour post with one paying $12.62 an hour through attrition. The total savings following expected retirements would be $77,435.

Holland said he couldn’t support the Human Resources proposal because the salaries of some posts would be increased.

“We’re going from making comprehensive cuts and handing out pink slips to giving out raises,” Holland said.

Under the initial proposal, three jobs with base rate pay ranging from $20.50 to $23.81 an hour rise to $24.50 an hour.

The revised proposal increases the hourly rate to $24 per hour.

Holland accused McCarrier and Commissioner Dale Pinkerton of wanting to broker a deal instead of just making cuts in those four areas of government.

“There hasn’t been any quid pro quo, but it’s implied,” Holland said.

He said the proposal is unacceptable.

“What was on the agenda wasn’t a compromise,” Holland said.

McCarrier defended the proposed raises in human resources saying all staff would be cross-trained so they could do any job in that department.

“We’re looking at making these jobs more efficient,” he said.

McCarrier said he has some issues with Holland’s proposal as well.

This is the second time the salary board failed to make cuts. The first one occurred in November when different proposals made by McCarrier and Eckstein both failed.

The staff hours included in the indirect costs charged to Sunnyview were based on reports by the firm Maximus.

Despite using those reports for years to set a deficit number for the nursing home, county officials last year disclosed those were estimates, not actual hours in some cases.

McCarrier said people are making a mistake citing those reports as a precise determination of time spent on Sunnyview issues.

According to a Maximus statement, “Using its figures to support statements about proper staffing levels or dollar-for-dollar labor costs is inaccurate and misleading.”

Commissioner Jim Eckstein said today’s meeting likely was canceled because he sent an e-mail to 11 employees who would end up earning less than the human resources workers.

Eckstein said that would be wrong considering the responsibilities of those 11, which include a tax claim director, a Hazmat specialist, an emergency planner and the elections bureau director.

“I felt this proposal was a slap in the face to many of our dedicated and loyal employees,” Eckstein read from the e-mail that was sent.

He disagreed with McCarrier’s assessment of the human resources proposal.

“If he thinks it was a good idea, why did he cancel the meeting,” Eckstein said.

He pointed out the savings are dependent on undetermined retirement dates.

Eckstein concurred with Holland the other commissioners were trying to get their way by forcing Holland, who wants the reorganization of his office, to acquiesce.

“It looked to me like a blatant extortion or coercion,” Eckstein said.

He said not expecting a consensus isn’t sufficient reason to cancel a meeting.

“It really looks fishy to me,” Eckstein said.