List of Butler County projects for $75 million rescue funds growing: What could be done

“These projects will definitely help lift up all of Butler County as a package, not chipping away,” Carpenter told the Journal-News. “The compliance guidelines instruct you to reach out to your communities and ask them for what they need, sort of what’s shovel-ready, what we can do immediately to help our communities. So the intent is to move quickly.”

Commissioners Don Dixon and T.C. Rogers have received her plan but said they are not prepared to comment. Rogers said he has been meeting with entities who have submitted requests on his own.

“I’m going through that process, I haven’t made any decisions on what I’m going to do or how much I’m going to spend,” Rogers said.

Dixon said he is not certain all of the ideas will meet U.S. Treasury rules.

“All of it is being vetted on what you can do and what you can’t do,” Dixon said. “I’m not certain some things she’s recommending, that we will be allowed to do, but that’s all part of vetting all the ins and outs.”

Some of the items on her list have already been submitted as formal proposals, like a $24 million Butler Tech proposal for new facilities in Hamilton and Middletown to provide advanced technology training in the manufacturing and aviation fields. That project is her top priority but the list is multifaceted.

“Transformation is the theme woven through the projects proposed for the American Rescue Plan Act,” Carpenter said of her plan. “The changes and improvements expand educational opportunities, invest in housing and neighborhoods, support public health initiatives, improve water quality, promote small business, address complex social problems, create community centers and remediate disparities to underserved populations.”

Here are some of the newest proposals:

The county also received $18.7 million in federal CARES relief money last year, and she would allocate $5.2 million for several projects. The largest proposed stipend is $2 million for a tuition reimbursement program for licensed practical nurses. The parking lot at the county fairgrounds where vaccination clinics have been staged needs about $1.6 million in repairs, as well.

A new facility for the Butler County Health District also falls into that category. Health Commissioner Jennifer Bailer would like to take over the former Development Disabilities adult daycare center in Liberty Twp., and it could cost about $500,000 to make that a reality.

Carpenter is also recommending allocating millions out of the county general fund to help other entities. After talking to township officials, she said road resurfacing is the biggest need, and the federal coronavirus relief funds can’t be used for that.

“Another biggie, biggie, biggie is I said just give the townships $10 million ...” she said. “Nothing here allows the township to have roads and roads are their very biggest problem. So of our excess millions and millions of dollars, our ridiculous amount of money, give $10 million to the townships for the thing they need the most.”

The commissioners recently approved the $106.7 million general fund tax budget for next year, which is well below projected revenues of $113.3 million. The county expects to begin the year with $112.8 million in carryover, some of that is from the CARES Act windfall.

While Carpenter has been touring the county gathering ideas, others have submitted formal proposals to County Administrator Judi Boyko, including 13 requests totaling more than $66 million. Several are on Carpenter’s list as well but with different funding levels in some cases.

The county’s tiny villages have asked for $11.5 million to make critical repairs to infrastructure, mainly involving water and sewer systems. Carpenter allotted $5 million.

“I had to divvy it up, it’s not going to hurt their projects, they’ll just have to find money from somewhere else,” Carpenter told the Journal-News. “The engineer that proposed the water projects, that was just a big wish list to me.”

The formal proposals include six from Butler County government entities including the sheriff, coroner, visitors bureau, developmental disabilities, recorder, clerk of courts that come to more than $6 million. None of those requests made Carpenter’s list.

“I believe that with our current general fund budget we can easily support any improvements to county government,” Carpenter said. “One of the requests in the rescue fund documents is to seek alternative funding and to have those programs that have no existing funding to be considered.”

Carpenter has also included $300,000 to set up an executive panel to oversee the projects that the commissioners eventually do fund. She proposed one commissioner, representatives from Hamilton and Middletown, a township trustee and appointees from several other areas touched by the plan should sit on the committee.

The next step is for the commissioners to have work sessions with the requestors.