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Michael D. Pitman reports about Butler County, Ohio, politics, county government, countywide issues and Butler County people just like you for Cox Ohio Publishing (including the Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal and several weekly papers in Butler County). He wants your suggestions and questions for more news stories. Leave a comment for him here or e-mail Michael at Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2010 > June > 28
Monday, June 28, 2010
While some deputies are getting laid off, others are getting raises
At the same time Butler County sheriff’s deputies are pleading with commissioners to stop 23 planned layoffs — saying the safety of the community is at stake — those still employed are getting pay raises this year between 3 and 6 percent.
This amounts to roughly $500,000 in pay raises this year, according to Vicki Barger, sheriff’s office finance director.
And at the same June 24 meeting where commissioners approved roughly $3.6 million in cuts — leading to dozens of layoffs in the sheriff’s office, prosecutor’s office, courts and other departments — they approved pay raises for five employees.
All five are union members in Butler County Children Services, and got their raises as mandated in the county’s contract with that union.
Butler County leaders know they can’t force unions to make concessions outside of contract negotiations. But they say it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Commissioners are considering a policy that would ask unions members to suffer the same furloughs, pay freezes, hour reductions and other burdens laid upon non-union workers as the county struggle with budget deficits.
“We’re all in this together,” said Commissioner Donald Dixon. “It’s not one segment (of the workforce) versus another segment, it’s the county as a whole.”
“In my opinion, it’s only fair to ask everybody…to do the same.”
The county’s 13 unions represent more than 500 workers combined, according to county Human Resources Director Gary Sheets. He said commissioners can’t force them to make concessions; they can only try to negotiate them when contracts come up for renewal.
Several, including the Fraternal Order of Police contract representing sheriff’s deputes, are in negotiations right now. FOP President Sgt. Jeff Gebhart did not return calls for comment Monday.
Some unions have agreed in recent contract negotiations to not give pay raises if non-union workers don’t get them, but they have not been subject to furloughs, Sheets said.
Non-union workers under the commissioners have been handed 10 days of unpaid furloughs this year and had their pay frozen indefinitely, in addition to several rounds of layoffs.
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TweetCounty considering new 1.3 mill senior levy
Butler County commissioners took the first step this morning, June 28, in possibly putting a new senior services levy on the ballot.
Commissioner agreed to ask the county auditor to certify how much a 5-year, 1.3 mill levy would bring in. This doesn’t put the issue on the ballot, but is the first step in doing so.
This request is a reduction from the 2 mill levy that expires this year, and that came under scrutiny when commissioners announced it was bringing in millions of dollars more than needed.
Here is the last story I wrote on the prospect of a senior levy:
If asking voters to approve a tax in the current political climate isn’t daunting enough, imagine doing so after collecting millions of dollars more than intended with the last levy.
This is the dilemma facing the Butler County senior services levy, which county leaders say may go before voters in November. The five-year, 2-mill levy expires this year.
Without it, programs such as Meals on Wheels, transportation and housekeeping services for impaired seniors would come to a stop, said Laurie Petrie, spokeswoman for the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio, which administers the levy.
But the agency has trust hurdles to overcome.
Commissioners cut the levy collection by one-third in 2009, after estimates emerged that it was on track to collect $21 million more than it needed. The program now is spending slightly more than the $11 million it’s collecting annually, but still plans to end 2010 with $13.8 million in reserve.
“The reserve is to allow us, if the levy fails … to transition people off the programs and to end the programs through natural attrition,” Petrie said. “Without the levy, the program dies.”
Unclear is how much a levy proposal will be. A work group including the Council on Aging, levy oversight board Citizens for Elderly Services and other agencies is coming up with options for county commissioners.
Their projections have been flawed before, far over-estimating the number of people who would use the service.
Commissioners this week discussed forming a committee to review all levy requests.
Commission President Gregory Jolivette said he would support a new senior levy if such a committee found it imminently necessary.
“You should go (to the ballot) when the levy dollars are absolutely needed in order to continue the services that the people have come to expect,” he said.
Jolivette said the agency and county showed restraint by reducing the levy when they learned of the surplus.
“To me, it was a matter of trust to say we made a mistake with our estimates of what we needed, so here’s the money back,” he said. “Hopefully that gains them some credibility.”
Petrie said people still believe in the levy’s purpose — keeping people in their homes instead of in nursing homes.
“They understand that the program will absolutely go away if the levy is voted down,” she said. “And once it’s gone, people will find they wish they had something in their community so mom doesn’t have to go to a nursing home before her time.”
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