Butler County wants to do its share to recruit and train more volunteer firefighters.

The county commissioners on Monday agreed to buy a $130,000 fire training trailer as part of a multiorganization recruiting effort for volunteer firefighters.

The money would be paid over two years.

The county already is partnering with several groups, including the Cranberry Township Community Chest and Butler County Community College, to launch the initiative.

Under the program, which was announced July 1, students would be enticed to take a firefighter certification course and commit to two years of department service in exchange for education costs being covered at BC3.

The goal is to raise $500,000 for the scholarships to aid fire departments, which are struggling to find members.

Bruce Mazzoni, Cranberry Township supervisor board chairman and treasurer of the community chest, said in an interview the commissioners’ pledge helps free up more money for scholarships.

“It’s not a continual talk of the problem,” Mazzoni said of the commissioners. “It’s taking action. We appreciate that level of support.”

He said the college and the Butler County Fire Chiefs Association, another partner in the program, will determine the amount of the scholarships, which could be used to fund any course of study.

Mazzoni, who also is a BC3 board member, said the scholarship program should be implemented by the fall of 2015.

The trailer would be used by BC3’s fire academy and would be available for use by any of the county’s 33 fire departments, 32 of which are volunteer.

During the commissioners meeting Monday, Commissioner Jim Eckstein proposed the county donating a total of $250,000 over 5 years for these scholarships by tapping into such resources as natural gas drilling impact fee revenue.

However, Commissioner Bill McCarrier, board chairman, said impact fee money could not be used for scholarships since students could use those funds to earn degrees unrelated to firefighting.

McCarrier also said a five-year term is too long because it binds future county commissioners.

Eckstein argued the impact fee could be used elsewhere, freeing up more money in the general fund.

“This is peanuts compared to our budget,” he said. “We’re not a poor county.”

The 2014 budget is $194.7 million.

County Controller Ben Holland said where the county draws money for scholarships is moot because the IRS would frown on them being funded by the county.

Holland said the IRS prefers to see government subsidize the buying of a tangible asset that benefits everyone in the county, such as the trailer.

Eckstein relented after McCarrier agreed to up the contribution for the trailer from $100,000 to the full $130,000.

“I felt we reached a compromise,” Eckstein said in an interview.

Among previous donations to the scholarship fund are $20,000 from the Alcoa Foundation and $5,000 from the Butler County Tourism Bureau.