It’s hard not to resist a second-guessing of the Butler County commissioners for hiring a consultant to file new federal tax forms related to ObamaCare.

Commissioners Chairman Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton authorized the county human resources department to hire the Reschini Group of Indiana, Pa., to assist with services related to the federal health care reform law, including filing forms with the IRS.

The county will pay Reschini $6 apiece for each of its full-time employees and part-time employees with health insurance — to have Reschini ensure compliance with the reporting requirements related to the Affordable Care Act.

Human resources director Lori Altman said previously that this is the first year for these reporting requirements, and she wants to make sure the work is done properly. She said the cost will total less than $5,000. The county has 561 full-time employees. The number of part-time employees who have insurance was unavailable.

We must wonder out loud if the expense is necessary.

The two IRS forms in question — forms 1094C and 1095C — are available online from the website IRS.gov. The forms are less complicated and about as brief as the standard W-2 form that all employers have been filling out for years.

There are copious instructions for each form. Again, the instructions are available online and in print form.

Even though the forms are simple and brief, the IRS gives every indication and insinuation that it expects mistakes to be made, A list of penalties addresses failure to submit the forms. There is no penalty listed for errors or miscalculations, as long as employers file on time.

At the same time, there has been no follow-through reported yet on implied cutbacks in the human resources department following the privatization of the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center more than a year ago.

One of the assurances of those pushing for the privatization was that it would accommodate taxpayer relief through staff cuts.

The Sunnyview sale cut the county’s payroll by more than 200 workers — employees whose paperwork requirements occupied many hours of the HR staff, who now ostensibly have less to do.

But other than the actual Sunnyview staff, no corresponding employee cuts have transpired.

Absent any explanation otherwise, it seems a waste of county taxpayer resources to pay an outside company to file these forms when we already have employees with human resources training and experience who are capable of filling out these simple forms.