Butler County has hired four new employees to work in the Butler County Children and Youth Services department.
The one supervisory position and three caseworker positions will cost the county $57,000 per year, which is 20 percent of the positions’ salaries and benefits. The state pays the other 80 percent, or $228,000 per year.
Butler County Controller Ben Holland voted to hire the positions during a meeting of the Butler County Salary Board on Wednesday, but also threw out a word of caution.
“As controller, I feel an obligation to caution the board of commissioners because, ultimately, this could fall back on the county,” Holland said.
He said he doesn’t have confidence in state government and is concerned that these costs could eventually give a hit to the county’s general fund, which couldn’t “stomach it.”
“I’m just hoping to bring some financial context into this conversation going forward,” he said.
Holland also argued that other Pennsylvania counties have higher incidences of child abuse than Butler County but spend less per case.
According to a Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Report from 2016, Butler County had 1,304 reports of child abuse. Of those, 807 were screened out and the other 496 were assessed by caseworkers. That equates to $1,855 per case.
“That’s the second-highest behind Beaver County,” he said.
He added that the county pays their workers “pretty generously.”
CYS supervisors receive a salary of between $47, 481 to $66,474 depending on experience and longevity. Caseworkers are paid $24.85 per hour.
Butler County Commissioner Chairwoman Leslie Osche argued if there would be a change in state funding, the board would examine the entire department and make changes as necessary.
“If state funding would get cut, we would step back and reassess,” Osche said. “We couldn’t just ignore it.”
She also said Butler County saves money through employee retention while neighboring counties have a higher turnover rate because they pay less.
“We don’t have a high turnover, which causes turmoil,” she said.
Butler County Commissioner Kim Geyer pointed out that following the Jerry Sandusky child abuse situation in Centre County in 2014, new guidelines were put in place for how counties were to handle abuse allegations. Many counties immediately hired several new caseworkers, she said, before they ever really knew if they needed any.
“Our department (and CYS Director Charlie Johns) waited to take account of what was really needed,” Geyer said.
The CYS department says the new caseworkers will allow the department to focus more on the county’s youngest victims, children under 6 years old. Officials say these children aren’t yet in school, where signs of abuse could be noticed by a teacher.
“We need to get eyes on them,” Commissioner Kevin Boozel said.
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