Although a deadline of Oct. 13, 2007, remains in effect for completion of the new Butler County Prison, the county's proposed 2007 budget appears to be counting on that deadline to be missed by more than two months.

That is the message that emerged from Tuesday's Butler County Prison Board meeting.

If the county commissioners anticipated that there was any chance of the deadline being met, those officials presumably would have felt obligated to budget money next year for additional prison staff that will be needed at the new facility, as well as for construction of a vehicle sallyport, or secure entrance, for bringing prisoners into the government center/courthouse for court proceedings.

The 2007 budget introduced earlier this month contains no evidence of such financial provisions.

The question then becomes the following: Where will the county get the money in 2007 for these two items if the current two months-plus that the prison project is behind schedule is able to be resolved in the months ahead via double work shifts or other means?

The construction contract calls for a penalty of $1,000 a day or whatever the county's actual expenses are due to a delay. It is to be presumed that the general contractor, A.G. Cullen of Pittsburgh, is not going to look kindly on the prospect of losing $60,000, $90,000 or more because of the deadline issue.

But county officials must continue to be reminded that there must be no forgiveness for any missed deadline. The taxpayers must not be forced to bear the expenses associated with housing "overflow" prisoners at other counties' facilities beyond the initially agreed-upon October 2007 completion date.

According to estimates in a front-page article in Wednesday's Butler Eagle, the cost of hiring 25 correctional officers for just one month — the number of additional officers that are believed to be needed for the new prison upon its completion — is more than $104,000. Meanwhile, the proposed sallyport's cost currently is carrying a conservative estimate of $155,000 to $200,000, although Bill O'Donnell, county chief clerk, believes that construction could be done in-house at a significantly lower cost.

A budget is a document designed to, as accurately as possible, reflect income and expenses for a designated fiscal year. Judging from the discussion at Tuesday's prison board meeting, the county's 2007 spending document does not fully meet that expectation.

County taxpayers should be more than mildly concerned.

The county commissioners should openly address the budget-omissions issue at the meeting later this month at which final 2007 budget action takes place. There should be no troubling 2008 surprises brought about by realities or obligations ignored in 2007.