When the three current Butler County commissioners entered office in 2016, they all expressed wanting to improve fiscal management and develop a plan for capital improvements, Commissioner Kim Geyer said.

Those goals were accomplished by improving the budget process, establishing a capital improvement and investment plan, increasing budget reserves, managing debt, planning for legacy costs, maintaining facilities and properties, minimizing risk, improving efficiency, addressing labor contracts and using technology, she said.

“Healthy, strong and stable are just three adjectives that I believe best describe the state of Butler County government,” Geyer said. “Our conservative fiscal management over the past eight years has led to a healthy balance sheet that will offset the strain of inflation and even a recession that comes our way, if we continue to implement responsible fiscal management.”

Commissioners chairwoman Leslie Osche agreed.

“County government may well be in the best financial and human capital position ever,” she said. “Our county staff are top of the line, dedicated servants, and we are perhaps one of the only counties in the commonwealth that is fully staffed. We've also made significant investments in technology to make the taxpayer and public experience more efficient, sustainable and user friendly.”

Geyer said the strength of the county government grows from employees and elected officials working together and relying on each other’s expertise to address residents’ concerns and implement state and federal mandates in a fiscally responsible way.

“This effort takes many talented employees with diverse skill sets and expertise; we are grateful to have the people we do here in Butler County to help us achieve these goals and objectives for those who live and work here,” Geyer said.

Cooperation and collaboration between county employees and officials is what makes the county government work well, Osche said.

The planning and economic development department under the direction of Mark Gordon helps municipalities by advancing critical infrastructure projects.

She said the commissioners collaborate with the district attorney, courts, prison and human services department to combat the opioid crisis, and they work with the emergency management department to address the EMS crisis.

Geyer said counties across the state regularly contact the commissioners to ask how Butler County deals with issues and implement similar solutions.

“Butler County has become the benchmark of all other counties in the commonwealth due to our innovative solutions and how we handle problems and issues,” Geyer said.

Osche said county government is challenged by ineffective government at the state and federal levels.

“We recognize the cavalry isn't coming, and we have to solve the problems on our own,” Osche said. “The good news is we have been able to do so with a great team of committed leaders and staff.”

Geyer highlighted the Butler County Infrastructure Bank program, which uses Act 13 Marcellus Shale gas impact fees to offer low interest loans.

The program “continues to be a game changer in jump-starting and helping municipalities with various infrastructure projects that would have waited years and decades for funding, thus costing taxpayers even more, had it not been for this program,” Geyer said.

Since its inception, the program has distributed almost $60 million to more than 20 municipalities for infrastructure projects such as water, sewer, stormwater and other projects, she said.

The commissioners have significantly improved cooperation and communication with municipalities, she added. The commissioners hold monthly calls with municipalities to try to help them address the challenges they face, Geyer said.

Osche said she’s proud of the ideas the commissioners have tried.

“We've taken calculated risks and made bold moves in the spirit of entrepreneurship to address these issues and have demonstrated success in creative solutions to stormwater management and now transit and connectivity,” Osche said.

Like at the county level, Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy credited people with the city’s success.

“The state of city government is good,” Dandoy said. “It’s greatest strength is the people who are working so hard to represent resident needs and to raise the quality of life in our community. When it comes to both elected representation and employed personnel, we are on strong footing.”

He said the city has grown in many ways, such as making capital improvements to infrastructure and equipment and increasing recreational and social activity.

“There is now a willingness of both individuals and other agencies, including the state of Pennsylvania, to invest money in the projects that we have put forward,” Dandoy said. “New small businesses are popping up throughout the city and projects are being undertaken because we are enjoying support from other sources.”

He said elected officials and employees commit their energy and work together to help initiatives succeed.

City government hasn’t really grown, but it has become more connected to other entities and governmental bodies, he said. The city was more isolated in the past, but now works with other municipalities and other municipal leaders and departments to accomplish more than could be done alone, he said. Private entities and service organizations accomplish things that the city is not able to undertake, he added.

The biggest challenges facing the city are its lack of money and difficulty finding employees, Dandoy said.

“We have deferred maintenance and purchases for a long time and now we must address these needs,” Dandoy said. “We all want to do it ‘yesterday,’ but limited financial resources slow the speed at which we can move forward to address them.”

He said the city sometimes has the financial resources and need to hire, but can’t find enough applicants for the jobs.

“This slows down our attempts to move forward with improvements in the quality of life throughout the city. There is a saying: ‘Many hands make light work.’ We need more ‘hands,’” he said.

Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo is just as proud of the state of the borough’s government.

“Slippery Rock’s borough government is operating at an all-time best,” Longo said. “Over the past six years, Slippery Rock has acted with haste to address issues that were overlooked or ignored by previous administrations.”

The borough has a manager, a secretary/treasurer and a code enforcement officer, Longo said.

Slippery Rock has grown since 2019, when it had a borough administrator and a part-time secretary, to having a full-time borough manger and full-time secretary now, Longo said.

In addition, the borough has upgraded the code enforcement officer’s position from part-time to full-time, and expanded the police department to have four full-time and four part-time positions, he said.

Slippery Rock’s most pressing challenge is continuing to innovate ways to meet the demands of an ever growing constituency.

Longo said the borough has just under 4,000 permanent residents, but must face the challenge of providing infrastructure and services to nearly 20,000 people when Slippery Rock University is in session.

Longo said the way the borough’s elected officials and employees work together is part of why Slippery Rock has succeeded.

“Our team’s ability to work together to easily solve problems and provide solutions creates desirable results,” he said, “so desirable that Slippery Rock has become one of the fastest growing areas in all of Pennsylvania.”