Butler County certainly isn’t the only county with blighted properties. There probably isn’t a county anywhere that can make a no-blight boast.

But Butler County over the next five years will be carrying out a commitment about which most counties can only dream. That is to raze 100 structures during that half-decade span, with half of the available money being targeted to the city and the remainder, to the county’s other municipalities.

The budget for the aggressive effort, which also will be geared toward saving or demolishing 100 other structures, could be $1.15 million, according to the most optimistic estimate, or $700,000 under the worst-case scenario.

How much money actually will be spent for demolition and how much for renovation will be determined as the effort is being carried out.

In being razed, some structures will involve fewer cost issues than others.

It is the Redevelopment Authority of Butler County that will be in charge of the demolition and renovation through its Residential Blight Prevention and Mitigation Program.

Of the program’s renovation segment, Perry O’Malley, authority executive director, said money not only would be coming from the redevelopment agency, but also from the Butler County Housing Authority.

The renovation money will be available to both homeowners and rental property owners who qualify.

The demolition-renovation initiative will begin in the spring, and the redevelopment and housing authorities have requested that property owners in need of help through the renovation segment get in touch with the housing agency as quickly as possible. The number is 724-287-6797.

“Blight’s a problem countywide,” O’Malley said.

The scope of the problem is due to municipalities’ lack of vigilance and their lack of effort in pursuing remedial measures for deteriorating properties.

And, it’s not only dilapidated residential properties that soil Butler County’s landscape. There are barns that are in danger of collapse — one notable example is near Evans City — as well as other structures many years beyond when they could have been saved.

Blighted properties evolve because, for whatever reason, owners neglect fixing problems when they are minor.

As O’Malley noted:

“A roof leak can turn into needing a whole new roof . . . (when) you have a crack in your foundation, you have to fix it or it’s only going to get worse.”

Some people avoid spending money for repairs because they feel hopeless regarding their neighborhood or problems such as drugs or vandalism nearby.

It is to be hoped that the demolitions and repairs over the next five years will provide the hope and incentive for many people to act to make improvements of their own with their own funds. So much could be accomplished with such a joint endeavor.

For most families, their home is their biggest investment. That investment should be preserved and, indeed, made more valuable, as much as possible, through repairs and updating.

The redevelopment authority’s program is in fact a springboard for potentially much more, if property owners outside the authority program are encouraged to act in the spirit of that effort and make their own improvements.

This is an exciting opportunity for an improved landscape that must not be wasted. The program should provide a positive example for other counties.