Nine months ago an editorial in the Butler Eagle urged Butler County government to sell its nursing home and put the proceeds toward the construction of an annex building next to the government center.

The editorial pointed out that Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center was operating at a loss of more than $1 million per year at a time when other counties in Pennsylvania were selling their nursing homes to private companies better equipped and more acutely focused on senior health care management.

There was no idea in August what Sunnyview’s exact value on the market, but the Eagle ventured a conservative guess of $10 million. Neither was there a fixed estimate for the proposed four-story annex, but there was a rough estimate of $12 million.

“It’s no secret (County) Commissioners Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton want to build the four-story annex adjacent to the existing county building,” the Aug. 19 editorial stated, adding, “The big question, according to Commissioner Jim Eckstein, is how they plan to come up with the estimated $12.1 million to build it.”

Now we have the answer, and it’s a good one. Investment 360 of Lakewood, N.J., last week paid the county $19 million to close the Sunnyview deal. That’s enough for the county to pay for the new construction without incurring any new debt. Add to this equation the fact that construction bids for the annex were very competitive — with a $12.1 million total in bids, the commissioners opted to replace the aging air conditioners along with other work on the government center and courthouse in addition to the annex.

There’s money left over to construct a district court building in Cranberry Township. Owning rather than renting district court offices in Cranberry will ultimately save money for the county.

And there’s still money left over from the Sunnyview sale. McCarrier proposes using what’s left to bolster three dwindling funds: the unrestricted fund balance, the operating reserve fund and the capital reserve fund.

To reiterate, the county took a sideline mission that was losing money and turned it over to professionals who specialize in that mission, receiving in exchange a large cash payment that they’ll use to expand and modernize the building which houses the county government’s primary mission without incurring any debt to do so.

Nice job.