Joining the BCFA will lead to anticipated legislation in April to formally create the Hamilton DFA, which will serve as both a port authority and development finance agency. The city of Hamilton and Smith have worked on creating this entity for several months, and the initial idea was to have the city manager stepping down to lead this agency.
The opportunity to lead the BCFA then was presented, and through conversations and discussions, it was decided Smith would lead the county agency as its executive director. The Hamilton DFA would be a managed entity under the BCFA but would operate independently with its own staff person, board of directors and budget. Smith would provide strategic oversight for the Hamilton DFA.
Before the Hamilton DFA can form, it requires a tri-party joinder agreement with approvals from Hamilton City Council, Butler County Commission and Butler County Finance Authority (BCFA). County commissioners approved the agreement Monday, and the BCFA is expected to entertain the agreement today.
City Council is expected to consider another three-party agreement, but this is an employment agreement among Hamilton, the BCFA and Smith, who is expected to begin his new job on April 8.
Finance Director Dave Jones said under the agreement, the city would be the payroll processor for the BCFA executive director. This is similar to how ADP, a human resources management software and service, would process payroll for a company.
But because of the way Hamilton’s payroll processing system works, they can’t have two EINs (employer identification numbers), and Smith would be a city employee in name only, Jones said.
“Any employer that pays wages is required to have an EIN,” he said of the IRS regulation. “The difference between what we’re doing and what ADP does, is ADP is able to process that payroll under that small business’s EIN. Our accounting system won’t let us use two separate EINs, so we’re going to have to process it under the city of Hamilton. Therefore, technically he’ll be a city of Hamilton employee.”
The city would be reimbursed 100% by the BCFA for all associated costs with processing the executive director’s payroll and benefits, and the city would be paid $1,000 annually for the labor time involved.
Jones emphasized Hamilton would have no operational control or decision-making authority over the BCFA executive director’s duties.
City Council has been working to identify Smith’s successor, and Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller previously said they’ll promote someone already with the city. City Council has not publicly said when that appointment could take place.
About the Author
