Butler County title office to remain closed due to budget cuts for several years

She told the Journal-News the lease was expiring on the current office in July.

“It was an obvious decision not to relocate, based upon changing economic outlooks, and facing the current lease’s expiration date necessitated the decision not to renew,” Swain said previously.

“When economic indicators forecast a better situation, we will reassess the option of opening a fourth office in the Middletown/Monroe area. For now, we have made the best business decision for the county budget and for county taxpayers.”

While that office is closed, the department added 10 to 15 new dealers during the crisis because neighboring counties closed most of their title offices. Swain routinely forwards around $1 million in excess title fee revenues to the general fund, and she budgeted $1.275 million for that next year.

Commissioner T.C. Rogers wondered if the title numbers and revenues will dip now that title offices in Hamilton County and other neighboring counties are reopening.

Swain said she doesn’t believe there will be a large drop from her department’s offices. They were closed for a time except Fairfield, which was the most convenient for Hamilton County residents. As of June, offices were available on the west side of Hamilton, the Government Services Center and West Chester Twp.. She said Warren County residents have been using the township location.

“I think we will keep most of those dealerships because of our good service,” she said. “We still offer 24-hour turnaround with processing titles. There was also another adjacent county that closed all of their title offices except their downtown office and we reaped the benefit of that.”

Butler County title offices processed 262,571 car and boat titles last year, and they project 253,285 this year.

Swain expanded e-filing for court cases this year and said that really helped at the height of the lockdown, but new filings were still down about 19.2%. She said tax liens are up “significantly” 827 to an estimated 1,188 and she fears foreclosures could balloon next year.

Commissioner Cindy Carpenter, who is the former clerk of courts, asked Swain to keep them apprised if she sees a spike in those types of cases.

“Really what you see there is the first eye on anything we’re going to see in the economy,” Carpenter said.