A Butler County commissioner and a Middletown city councilman are among the dozens of area elected officials remiss in filing legally mandated forms disclosing their sources of income and potential conflicts of interest, according to a newspaper analysis of state data.

The financial disclosure forms had to be filed by April 17. But as of May 25, nearly three dozen local elected and appointed officials and three former candidates had not turned anything in, the newspaper found. Statewide, 348 of the more than 10,000 required filers had not complied by May 25.

Ohio Ethics Commission Director Paul Nick said the disclosure forms are “important to the public, so they are aware of potential conflicts by public officials. It’s (also) important to public officials so they are reminded of areas for potential conflict.”

Nick said letters have gone out reminding people to file, and fines will soon follow.

Butler County Commission President Don Dixon said he has filed his forms, but did miss the deadline. He said the forms were completed on May 21 and he paid $250 late fee.

“It was an oversight,” Dixon said. “We had it on the calendar and it got missed.”

Dixon said he does not complete the complicated forms himself, but relies on his accounting team.

Like Dixon, Middletown Councilman A.J. Smith said f the deadline was overlooked.

“I got the paper work. I’m planning to file and I didn’t realize I missed the deadline,” said Smith. “This is something I’ve done every year. I just happened to overlook it. I’ll be sure to get it filed.”

As far as the penalties, Smith said he’ll pay the fine whatever it totals to be.

“Penalties are penalties,” he said.

Failure to file a form eventually results in misdemeanor charges, Nick said. But first, the board sent letters to non-filers reminding them of their duties. A warning will follow, then a $10 per day fine, then an ethics commission hearing and eventually court filings. The process takes months.

“We’re trying to be reasonable but also vigilant,” Nick said. “We really just want people to comply with the requirement and this is the mechanism that we use.”

Of the 36 criminal cases filed by the Ethics Commission that were resolved in court over the past five years, two of the cases were filed in this area.