A county-wide senior center levy is far from a shoe-in to be placed on the November ballot, this newspaper has learned.

Butler County Commissioner Don Dixon criticized the request for a 0.27-mill senior center tax levy that would increase property taxes $8.27 annually on $100,000 worth of property. He said he won’t consider the request until commission is presented with a concrete business plan.

“This thing is moving so fast, they’re pushing so hard,” he said. “They think it was on its way to getting approved... There’s not enough information that I’ve seen they’ve given us, you’d have to fill out more information to get a car loan.”

Last week, officials with five senior centers in the county said the levy is needed due to cuts in traditional funding, including national, state, local government and donations.

“Butler County has one of the highest projected increases in the percentage of senior populations of an of the 88 counties,” said Steve Schnabl, CEO at Partners in Prime.

There are five non-profit senior centers in Hamilton, Fairfield, West Chester Twp. Middletown and Oxford. Partners in Prime operates those in Hamilton, Fairfield and West Chester Twp.

The levy is projected to raise $2 million a year, with Partners in Prime receiving 44 percent, Middletown 41 percent and Oxford 15 percent.

Schnabl said he thought commissioners Cindy Carpenter and Chuck Furmon favored putting the question on the ballot. Furmon said earlier he wouldn’t have a problem letting the voters decide the question, Carpenter was non-committal.

Both commissioners said they now agree with Dixon and all three are considering a tax levy review committee for requests like this.

Schnabl said there would be “serious implications” if the ballot question was delayed while the committee is formed, but said they could provide any information commission requested. Dixon said as long as the centers provide a detailed financial plan, he would not require the senior levy to wait and be vetted by the new committee.

Schnabl said the senior centers serve about 4,000 residents out of the approximate senior population of 68,000 in Butler County. He said the senior levy that is currently drawing taxpayer money serves about the same number of people.

Some have criticized why Partners in Prime would be involved in a tax levy request when it already receives money from taxpayers. Others have criticized the salary Schnabl receives.

West Chester Twp. rents the senior center building to Partners in Prime for $1 a year and for years has subsidized the non-profit. Partners asked the township for $95,000 this year and received $85,000. Schnabl anticipates the stipend will drop to $25,000 and go away altogether if the levy is put on the ballot and passes.

As for his salary of just less than $90,000, Schnabl said he “earns every penny.”

Dixon wants to know if they levy monies would be used for facilities or services. In these economic times, Dixon said he doesn’t want to see a lot of new facilities and vehicles. Schnabl said it would be used for both.

Carpenter said wants to see all the agencies that provide services to the elderly coordinate their efforts and this is a good time to broach the subject. Dixon and Furmon agreed.

As for just leaving the issue up to the voters to decide, Dixon said that would be irresponsible.

“If they have an ongoing revenue stream and a board that doesn’t answer to the public, they are not elected, and can spend that money however they want, what’s the recourse?” he said. “There are just a lot of issues out there that are undone. I understand you can have a need for a lot of things, but the fact is you can only afford so many.”

Commission will meet with senior center officials on Thursday in a work session to discuss details in the request.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.