“It’s on par with what it takes to run an operation this size and she’s literally hands on everything, she never misses a day, she never hardly takes any vacation just because she’s working overtime here,” Commissioner Don Dixon said. “She’s the first one here, last one to leave, she’s a real asset to the county.”
The commissioners tried to give her a 4% raise last year but she declined saying with so many people “struggling” because of the median 37% property value hike it was the least she could do, “the $8,000 may be minimal to each property owner, but from my perspective it’s what I control.”
The commissioners hand-picked Boyko in 2019 and skipped her raise in 2020 because of the pandemic — she didn’t remind them they overlooked her — and they gave her a 4.5% increase in 2021. She got a 5% pay bump in 2022 bringing her salary up to $188,743.
Butler County is the seventh largest in the state and Boyko is responsible for a total county budget of $507.4 million, around 600 employees and 14 departments under the commissioners’ direct control, plus communicating and interacting with 15 other elected officials and seven independent boards.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers said the raise may sound large but noted she has twice skipped pay increases. He said the raise was well deserved.
“With the hours that she works, which are too many, we felt it was justified,” Rogers said. “She has the ability of being extremely detailed but yet always looks at the big picture and it’s rare to find that combination of qualities.”
Boyko is paid less than former Hamilton City Manager Joshua Smith, who is earning $240,000 as president and CEO of the Butler County Finance Authority. He was making $234,400 when he left the city’s employment.
Hamilton City Manager Craig Bucheit is the next highest paid in the county. He was hired in at $186,700 last March. Fairfield City Manager Scott Timmer comes in next with an annual salary of $175,048. Most of the other administrators/managers in the large jurisdictions make in the mid-to-upper $160,000s.
Boyko told the Journal-News she is looking forward to continuing to work with the commissioners to achieve the goals they have set out for the future.
“I am honored for the privilege to continue in the capacity as the Butler County administrator,” she said. “I’m grateful to the commissioners for their confidence and trust in me to represent the board and fulfill the board’s policy initiatives.”
Other non-union county employees under the commissioners’ direct control also received raises this year, albeit under a different program. Instead of the traditional two-part merit pay plan, the commissioners approved increasing the minimum pay ranges for all non-union employees and a 5% raise for those who are below the maximum for their pay range, based on a market update by consultant Clemans Nelson.
Boyko said the cost is roughly $650,000 but only around $285,000 is coming out of the general fund, the rest will be charged to social service funding sources.
“The commissioners paused the pay for performance program for 2025 wage treatment consideration because as we were readdressing the study, which we do every three years, looking at the market, internal and external comps it was determined that the county was substantially below in comparables,” Boyko said.
She said over that last two years the county lost 194 employees — only 20 were due to retirements — and 94.8% of them were in the first five pay scales earning less than $36,000, “these pay ranges have the greatest attrition and addressing these wages will hopefully assist with attraction and retention of applicable employees.”
The Journal-News examined the pay bump percentages for the 143 employees who were eligible for the pay hike and found the highest increase was 30% for a finance and administrative specialist in the Child Support Enforcement Agency. Her salary jumped $11,835 to $51,147. Another 15 employees received raises of 20% or more to get them to competitive levels, 46 people got double-digit raises up to 20% and 67 employees or 47% received the minimum 5%.
Only two employees didn’t get a pay raise, Finance Director Dave McCormick who earns $150,009 and Water & Sewer Department Director Jim Williams — who was hired last May with a salary of $160,000. Boyko said they will be considered for what is known at “Part B” of the traditional pay-for-performance program.
The commissioners for several years have operated with a two-part performance pay formula that calls for pay hikes in the 1% to 3% range added to an employee’s base pay which they refer to as part A and another 1% to 3% percent available in lump sum payments they call part B. The county will return to that model next year.
Meeting change
Butler County Commission has changed its regular meeting schedule to 9:30 a.m. Tuesdays unless it falls on a holiday, then they will meet on Thursday of that week.
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