Butler County is expanding its Children and Youth Services department to deal with an increasing number of cases resulting from changes in state regulations.

The county salary board Wednesday approved the creation of two new jobs: a full-time casework supervisor and a part-time caseworker which cannot exceed 1,000 hours in a year.

The supervisor will be paid $56,319 annually and receive benefits. The caseworker will earn $23.42 per hour and receive no benefits. Because the state will fund 80 percent of the salaries, the new posts will cost the county $21,000 annually.

Charlie Johns, CYS director, read statistics tallied since the changes, 23 amendments to the Child Protective Services Law, were implemented in 2015.

During 2015, there was a 27 percent increase in reports made to CYS, a 73 percent increase in abuse cases, a 16 percent increase in neglect cases and a 36 percent jump in total case assignments, or 897 cases.

Through May of this year, there was a 37 percent increase from 2014 in reports made to CYS, a 125 percent increase in abuse cases, a 23 percent increase in neglect cases and a 49 percent increase in total cases, or 487.

Johns said now that the agency has noted the full impact of its workload, he proposed what staffing additions were needed.

“This action is a response to the impact we now know,” he said.

Johns said efforts, including reassigning duties, were made to minimize a staffing increase.

“We did a lot of internal adjustments to prevent hires,” he said.

CYS previously had five casework supervisors and 27 full-time caseworkers.

Johns said having more staff to handle cases in the initial stages limits the number of placements outside the home later on.

County Commissioner Leslie Osche, board chairman, supported the new positions, saying that costs are lower when there are fewer placements and more families stay together.

Although commissioners Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel agreed with Osche, county Controller Ben Holland dissented.

“To me, this sounds like front end bureaucracy, not back end services,” Holland said.

Geyer concurred with Holland that government is not the solution to problems in a family, but it has a responsibility to not turn its back to the issue either.

“By doing nothing, that is not the answer either,” Geyer said.

Boozel agreed.

“This is a mistake I’m willing to make,” he said.

Boozel said he would rather be criticized for spending money on personnel than be targeted for not prioritizing child welfare.

“I will defend this all day long,” he said.

The salary board also created a temporary assistant district attorney post for $38.81 an hour with no benefits.

The person hired for that job would fill in for Assistant District Attorney Christine Studeny, who has been on an extended medical leave.

The post would be cut when Studeny returns to work or July 12, 2017, whichever comes first.

There are seven permanent assistant district attorneys in the office.