Buildings that blight the Butler County landscape will continue to be demolished as the result of a program at the county Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

Ed Mauk, authority director, received the approval of the county commissioners at their Wednesday meeting to set up a new funding system to demolish blighted property.

In the program, the authority will have a maximum balance of $50,000 at all times for demolition.

The money will come from the pool of funds the county gets as a result of a $15 fee that was added in 2017 to title transfers.

In the agreement between the authority and county, authority officials will report their demolition work to the commissioners each quarter.

Before the $15 fee was added, the authority would request funds from county commissioners for each demolition project or group of projects, Mauk said.

The constant $50,000 balance available for demolitions will allow the authority to plan ahead and perform more work because it won't be required to stop and ask commissioners for funding before each project.

Mauk said he is in communication with municipal officials, who condemn buildings or designate them as blighted.

“We have relationships with 13 municipalities and we just signed a couple new ones,” Mauk said.

The demolition work is planned and carried out and a lien is placed on the property, so the owner would be forced to pay the authority back if the property were sold, Mauk said.

“You don't want the person who has the blighted property to benefit from our work,” Mauk said.

He said the blighted property remediation program has been ramping up in recent years.

While 21 properties throughout the county have been demolished since 2013, 11 have been razed just since last year.

The average cost per demolition, Mauk said, is $11,473. If asbestos removal is required, that cost increases.

Demolition jobs are advertised for bid, and the lowest responsible bidder completes the work, said Commissioner Kevin Boozel.

Boozel added that removing blighted properties mitigates safety issues as well, both for residents and first responders.

“A blighted property can become a house where things happen that are not so good, then police and firefighters can be called there,” Boozel said.

Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman, said the Local Government Academy gave a presentation on blight mitigation at a recent Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission meeting.

She learned that municipalities will be offered help on how to designate a property as blighted.

“It's just another piece of what our efforts have been in serving our municipalities however we can,” Osche said.

She said commissioners frequently are approached at various functions throughout the county by municipal officials seeking advice on blighted properties.