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Commissioner questions county payments

Furmon says issue involves West Chester Twp. trustee's company

file photo Charles Furmon

file photo George Lang

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By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer Updated 12:03 AM Tuesday, March 16, 2010

HAMILTON — Butler County has been paying a company with ties to a local politician nearly $1,000 a month for more than a year without any contract or resolution authorizing the payments, according to Commissioner Charles Furmon.

And, Furmon said, he can’t get anyone to do anything about it.

The company is Performance Benefit Solutions, owned by West Chester Twp. Trustee George Lang and his wife. The company provides flexible spending accounts to county employees using another company, Hauser Corporate Solutions.

However, Lang said Monday night, March 15 there was a mistake in the resolution and none of the money the county paid went to his company.

“Not one penny went to us in any way, shape or form,” Lang said.

In a letter to the Ohio auditor requesting an investigation, Furmon argued that the 2008 resolution allowing PBS to offer products to county employees says the firm will do so “at no charge to Butler County.”

Yet despite a lack of a contract, Furmon said the county paid PBS and HCS $1,000 a month for a year and a half before he stopped the payments late last year.

“No program documents exist, and no documents of any kind explain the pricing structure for what is being paid on a regular monthly basis,” Furmon wrote.

In the letter, dated Feb. 23, Furmon expressed frustration that “I find myself in the rare situation of being unable to mobilize my county prosecutor or county auditor to do anything about (the issue).”

Furmon said the prosecutor’s office told him the payments were valid because one for $12,000 was authorized by commission resolution in March 2009 — though there is still no contract or language in the resolution referring to ongoing payments.

“Somehow it was pushed through a back door,” Furmon said. “If you push any kind of contract through a back door and it gets partially paid, does that mean you have to pay it the rest of our lives? That doesn’t make sense to me.”

Furmon’s letter questioning payments linked to Lang isn’t the first time the company has been under scrutiny.

Performance Benefit Solutions is one of two companies authorized to offer flexible spending accounts to county employees under a 2008 resolution. The other is Chard Snyder, which charges $4.50 per participant and $400 fee for setup or renewal.

However, Lang said it is a misunderstanding.

“There was a mistake made on the resolution that was passed,” he said.

Lang said the county’s payment went to Hauser Corporate Solutions, which administers the program through a contract with PBS.

Prior to 2008, PBS was the only company allowed to offer the service to county employees. They did so at no charge, in exchange for the exclusive right to offer other insurance products to employees.

A former Lang business partner told this newspaper in 2008 that “political pad money” was helpful in getting that arrangement. Lang has denied getting any special treatment.

In the case involving Hauser, Lang pointed to the county prosecutor ruling that the deal was legitimate.

The process was opened to bidding when other companies cried foul. Furmon said Chard Snyder won the bid and was going to get exclusive access, partly because employees weren’t happy with PBS’s performance.

But PBS was allowed to stay on, Furmon wrote, “because several elected officials provided letters of support for PBS (probably because the husband of the principal of PBS is a prominent township trustee and active in Republican party politics in Butler County).”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or jsweigart@coxohio.com.

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