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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > June > 11 > Entry
County hires new finance director to ease fiscal turmoil
Butler County commissioners have high hopes for a new finance director they hired this morning, June 11, to help guide then out of a $6 million budget hole and bridle budget growth in recent years.
Pete Landrum, currently finance officer for Montgomery County Juvenile Court, will start the new job Monday, June 15.
But Landrum also comes with a price tag of $83,131 a year while commissioners are looking to furloughs, pay cuts and possibly another round of layoffs to heal their hemorrhaging budget.
Commission President Donald Dixon justified the hire, saying it will ultimately save the county money.
“In the private sector, we’d say this guy will pay for himself many, many times,” Dixon said. “It’s going to give us oversight and control of our spending programs.”
This payoff will be immediate, Dixon said, as Landrum will be involved in union contract renegotiations and bidding out a multi-million dollar contract for services at the county jails.
Commissioners say Landrum fills the position left vacant when former finance director Tim Williams stepped up to become county administrator and is lower than Williams’ former salary.
Landrum said he is familiar with Butler County’s precarious position, as Montgomery County just this week announced 2.5 percent across the board cuts aimed at filling a $7.6 million hole after a 3 percent budget cut at the beginning of the year.
“Every county around is dealing with the same thing,” he said.
But as for how he can reign in spending that some say has gotten out of hand in recent years, “Until I get diving into each individual budget, and what I can see and what I can recommend, that’s kind of hard to do from the outside,” he said.
Landrum has managed the Montgomery County Juvenile Court’s $30 million budget since 2007, his resume says. Before that, he was a budget liaison in that county’s office of budget and management, where he helped craft the county’s criminal justice budgets, including courts and the sheriff’s office, totaling more than $100 million.
Landrum holds a Master’s of Public Administration from Wright State University.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: County Commission
Comments
By STIX
June 12, 2009 10:48 AM | Link to this
we dont need him.we need twenty one days of MASHAL LAW.and the NATIONAL GUARD.and save our county from all the ILLEGALS.
By Lester
June 12, 2009 9:50 PM | Link to this
What is needed is a new county administrator. If that isn’t clear to the commissioners they are missing something.
By Sandy
June 12, 2009 10:08 PM | Link to this
With all the people in Butler county needing work they hire someone from outside. Shame on you commissioners.
By mark
June 19, 2009 8:19 AM | Link to this
Its a damn shame when they they dont state that they let go of several Butler County Juvenile Court employees to pay for this man to come and ” save us “. from what we already
By Billy Bob
June 22, 2009 10:25 AM | Link to this
I thought that Tim Williams was a financial genius, look where that has gotten us.