“I believe we may be the only one that provides this particular option,” he said to the commissioners during the Monday morning work session.
If an employee takes out a loan of their deferred compensation account — with a minimum balance of $5,000 — it would automatically be approved for up to 50 percent of their account, or $50,000, Edgar said. The employee would then repay their account, with interest, over one to five years.
Interest, a requirement of the program, would be 2 percent above prime at the time of the loan. However, he said, all interest payments would be placed in the employee’s account since “it’s their money.”
“Some counties and some departments and some elected officials embraced deferred comp to a greater degree than others,” Edgar said. “Some counties are somewhat resistant.”
Butler County Commissioners seemed to be interested in the loan aspect, but wanted to discuss it more.
The commissioners and county administrator Bruce Jewett said Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds needs to be included in the discussion. County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter asked Human Resources Director Gary Sheets to see exactly how many employees are enrolled in the program — either with CCAO or another program — and the benefits of each one.
“We’ll have to determine what benefit there is to our employees,” she said.
Edgar said there are 346 county employees enrolled in the CCAO program, which was established in 1985.
Contact this reporter at (513)
820-2175
or
mpitman
@coxohio.com.
About the Author
