Residents show opposition to Hanover Trustee decision to end contract with deputies

Trustees proceed with new fire levy ballot issue

Several Hanover Township residents showed up to oppose and question a recent decision by the board of trustees to end contracts with two deputies from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office during a meeting on July 15. Only one resident offered their support.

The two contracts were for deputies specifically assigned to cover Hanover Township, which will now be covered by road patrol deputies that cover other townships in addition to Hanover.

The decision to end the contracts was made during a meeting on June 17 following an executive session to save money in the general fund in case future transfers are needed for other township operations, according to Hanover Township Administrator Bruce Henry.

During a meeting in April, the board voted to divert $300,000 from the general fund to the fire fund to help cover a gap. A levy intended to cover the majority of the fire department’s budget was rejected for the second time by voters in May. 

Henry said the cutting of the contracts was not necessarily meant to cover the fire department budget. However, he said such cuts could address any upcoming shortages, as the township has upcoming equipment needs, and revenue collected by Hanover’s cemetery operations is down this year.

The total cost of the contracts was over $21,000 per month, or about 80% of the general operating levy funds and 11% of the total general fund budget, according to Henry.

Jeff Buddo, a former Hanover Township Trustee, was the first to speak at the July 15 meeting in opposition of the decision to end the contracts.

“Talking to the officers that are assigned to kind of cover our area now, the response time is not going to be near what it was before because you don’t know where they’re going to be,” Buddo said. “I think more people would be more upset and ask more questions if you would have (done) that in a regular session instead of going to executive session (and) coming back out when everybody’s gone.”

Stephen Herman, a meeting attendee, thanked the trustees instead for their judgement, calling the decision “tough love.” He pointed to possible budget-tightening needs in the future if property taxes are lost as a result of statewide legislation passing or if the next fire levy fails in November. 

Clint Nigg, a captain at the Hanover Fire Department, told the Oxford Free Press after the meeting, speeding in the township is “going to be ten times worse,” among other concerns he had with the trustees’ decision. 

“A lot of the EMS squads, when they have fire runs, they have a deputy to assess the situation first,” Nigg said. “They’re not going to have that. So when Hanover Township responds, EMS responds, they’re coming with everything they’ve got, because they have no idea what’s there.”

Andrea Mayer, who also spoke during the meeting, told the Oxford Free Press afterward, “The sheriff is a pretty reasonable person, and if the trustees would have maybe spoken to him first, I think that would have been a reasonable conversation before they just cancelled all the contracts.”

Hanover Trustee Larry Miller originally voted against ending the contracts. 

Trustee Douglas Johnson, who voted to approve the motion, said, “It’s common sense as far as finances.”

“The fire levy failed twice. We had to supplement the fire department to keep people on station, and with the budget we had, we couldn't do that,” Johnson said. “So we had to make some adjustments someplace along the line. And when you're entrusted with township funds, say for 10 pennies, you can't spend 14. We wouldn't be good stewards if we did that.”

Johnson said he spent 38 years working with the sheriff, “and nobody hated (the decision) more than I did.” 

“He does a great job. I have nothing but praise for that department, but there's come a time when it didn't equate money-wise,” Johnson said.

Hanover Trustee Diana Ramsey said of her vote to end the contracts, “As far as the money that we were paying out per month, I didn't feel like it was value-added. It is the Butler County's responsibility to patrol our roads.”

Ramsey said, since the program to contract deputies to specific townships was introduced, other townships have chosen to step away because of the costs involved, and Hanover and Liberty townships were the only two with remaining contracts.

“I want this to be clear, this is not personal,” Ramsey said. “This is not personal against the two dedicated officers. … It was really based on the amount of money spent.”

Fire levy ballot issue

In other business, the trustees voted to approve a resolution to proceed with placing a new fire levy issue on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. 

According to Henry, Butler County Auditor Nancy Nix reported on July 2 the proposed 3.5 mill levy approved for proposal by trustees on June 17 would generate $1,147,528 based on taxable property valuations for a period of five years.

The proposed levy would be collected at a rate not exceeding about $123 for each $100,000 of the appraised property value for a homeowner per year.

The 3.5 mill levy is the same as the one proposed for the November 2025 election that was rejected by voters.