Although Butler County commissioners agreed last week to let stand a 2.5-mill property tax increase for 2008, the board directed all county departments and row offices to make small but immediate spending cuts.

Additionally, commissioners said they will ask representatives of about two dozen local nonprofit groups to justify why they should receive allocations this year totaling about $95,000. Meetings with those representatives will be followed by a commissioners' decision within three months as to whether the groups will receive any funding in 2008.

Also, the long-time practice of paying medical benefits for the dozen or so solicitors who work for county row offices will be evaluated, as well as the practice of employing outside solicitors.

The moves are among a series of short- and long-term recommendations from a volunteer budget review committee that was asked last month by the county commissioners to go over the $185 million spending plan with a fine-toothed comb.

The previous board of commissioners had approved the 2008 budget with a 2.5-mill property tax increase after wrestling with the option of a no-increase spending plan that slashed nearly $5 million in funding to all nonprofits, including the Butler County Community College, the county's federated library system, and the Community Development Corporation.

When two new commissioners were seated in January, the board unanimously agreed to reopen the budget and reevaluate it from top to bottom. They appointed a committee of nine local businessmen and officials to help with the review.

The panel's report was given to commissioners Jan. 25, and was reviewed at a public meeting Wednesday.

Essentially, the committee determined that the county has been on a track of deficit spending for several years, avoiding tax increases by spending down its annual fund balances to the tune of about $7 million.

Given the 2.5-mill increase -- which the committee said will impact the average residential property owner about $37.50 annually -- the county is at its state-mandated cap of 25 mills. Another 5-mill levy is in place for debt reduction.

The committee believes changes, some immediate and some long-term, must be made.

Acting immediately, commissioners directed all row offices, departments, the nursing home, and the court system to implement a 1 percent cut in all non-personnel spending. The savings, estimated at $120,000, will be directed to the county's contingency fund, which had been budgeted at $350,000 for 2008.

Also, about $95,000 that had been earmarked for allocations to about two dozen local nonprofit groups is up in the air. Though the committee recommended that the largest allocations be maintained for 2008 -- about $5.3 million worth -- the committee suggested the smaller disbursements to about two dozen other groups be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Any savings also would be directed to the county's contingency fund.

Commissioners Chairman Dale Pinkerton said interviews with representatives of the groups will be done over a three-month period and the commissioners will publicly disclose their funding decisions.

Bill McCarrier, a former county commissioner and chairman of the volunteer committee, said the members' recommendations regarding the allocations were based on considerations such as the group's service area as well as its ability to raise funds. He said priority was given to groups that serve the entire county.

The groups and their 2007 allocations are: The Butler County Airport Authority, $80,000; community college, $4,441,538; federated library system, $238,000; the county Council of Governments, $3,000; farmland preservation, $125,000; economic development agency, $235,000; Agricultural Extension Office, $145,939, and the Flood Control Authority, $13,500.

Also, membership dues to Southwest Pennsylvania Corporation ($43,491) and Growth Alliance ($6,700) will be under reconsideration.

The committee had recommended that the funding allocations be made as set out in the 2008 budget, which matched the allocations from 2007, unless there is a legally mandated requirement for an increase.

Mr. McCarrier said the committee did not necessarily suggest that allocations to the other groups be eliminated, but that they be evaluated on a case by case basis.

Those groups include the Fire Chiefs Association, the Unionville Volunteer Fire Co., Safety Council, Butler County Fire Police Association, C.B. Rangers, Children's Center, Mothers Against Drunken Driving, American Red Cross, Butler Area Transit Authority, the Blind Association, Lyndora Legion Post, United Way, Victim Outreach Intervention Center, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Butler County Humane Society, City of Butler Freedom Contribution, Butler County Historical Society, Butler Arts Council, Association of Artists of Butler County, and the Butler County Farm Tour. The amounts allocated in the 2007 budget ranged from $1,000 for Mothers Against Drunken Driving to $15,000 to the Victims Outreach Intervention Center.

Also to be reevaluated is the longtime practice of paying health care premiums for row office solicitors. The solicitors are part-time employees who receive an annual retainer in addition to the health care coverage. Mr. Pinkerton said interviews will be done with each county manager who uses an independent solicitor over a three-month period to determine how much the solicitor is used and whether it might be more economical to pay competitive hourly rates versus the retainer/health insurance arrangement.

The committee suggested other quick-turnaround moves including the elimination of overtime pay to non-union employees. Chief Clerk William S. O'Donnell said the change would save the county about $20,000 annually.

The committee also recommended that the board prepare to negotiate new contracts with its union employees that call for contributions to health care costs as well as elimination of the paid lunch hour, effectively increasing employees' work week from 35 to 40 hours.

Additionally, the committee suggests that all county fees and levies be evaluated with an eye toward whether they are high enough to cover the cost of providing the service in question, and that departmental copying costs be evaluated.

Mr. Pinkerton said every suggestion will be given careful consideration by the board.

Each of the commissioners thanked the members of the committee for their work on the seven-page report. The committee members included Bill McCarrer, a former county commissioner; John Bonando, of Slippery Rock University; Jim Hackbart, a retired banker; Bill Patterson, retired chief clerk and court administrator; Jack Beiler, retired banker; John Cranmer, former county controller, and Jerry Andree, Cranberry manager.

The final vote on the reopened budget will be during a public meeting at 10 a.m. Feb. 13, in the county government center.

The vote will amount to a procedural act, however. Commissioners voted last week to print and distribute the tax cards to county property owners with a millage rate of 30 (25 mills plus the 5-mill levy for debt service.)

The last time the county reopened a budget was in 1996.