Taking office in March and assuming control of a county-run Bureau of Motor Vehicles office that would close in June, Delaware County Auditor George Kaitsa was left to figure out what to do with $130,000 owed on a lease for an empty building. He also had to decide what to do with the BMV’s seven employees.

County lawyers are currently negotiating with the landlord to get out of a lease for the storefront at 8625 U.S. 23S in Lewis Center that used to house the BMV. Despite the closure, all seven former BMV employees are still working for the county, a fact that has raised questions.

Kaitsa worked with the prosecutor’s office to try and find a cancellation clause on the lease, which expires in 2012. The prosecutor’s office now contends that since the contract was only signed by then-auditor Todd Hanks without authorization from the county commissioners, it is invalid.

A message seeking comment left with a spokeswoman for the owner of the storefront, Tuller Square Northpointe, LLC, was not returned.

Hanks told the Gazette last week that he thought the prosecutor’s office had reviewed the contract before he signed it, but first assistant prosecutor Bill Owen said earlier this week there was no record that his office had ever done so. Elected officials and department heads typically send contracts to the prosecutor’s office for review before signing them, Owen said.

“I don’t know what happened here,” he said.

Before closing the BMV, the county was budgeted to spend about $240,000 a year to pay seven employees for 2009 — a director, a manager, two assistant managers and three clerks — for their full-time or part-time work at the BMV.

Despite financial hardship that has led the commissioners to make multiple budget cuts this year, and a projected deficit of $2.3 million in the county’s general fund next year, all seven former BMV staff members continue to work for the county and receive the same pay and benefits, although they have different jobs.

“I had good employees at the BMV,” Kaitsa said in explaining his decision to retain the staff. “If I could utilize those employees in a different capacity to provide service to the county, I was willing to do that.

“I would have (reduced staff), but I had the opportunity to utilize them in a different capacity,” he said. He said he is still operating under the money he was budgeted for 2009, and hasn’t asked the commissioners for any additional money.

Kaitsa created a new job title within the auditor’s real estate department, where three BMV clerks — Lisa Aukerman, Candice DeWitt and Alexandra Wilder — and Patricia Henson, the BMV’s assistant manager, were re-assigned. The four “real estate specialists” collectively make about $150,000 in annual salary and benefits, and now perform customer service and assist with data entry for the county’s property value reappraisal.

The reappraisal will be mostly done by March 2011, at which time Kaitsa said he would consider downsizing his staff.

By doing data entry in-house, Kaitsa said he was able to negotiate a $116,000 reduction with a third-party contractor that appraisers properties. He said he also freed up extra money within his budget by choosing to not fill a vacant $70,000-a-year deputy auditor position.

Former BMV director Sheri Baker had received only 15 percent of her pay from BMV funds since she did most of her work elsewhere in the auditor’s office. When the BMV was closed, she was given a new title with an expanded job description and now supervises the auditor’s weights and measures department. The auditor’s office’s general fund picked up the BMV portion of her salary — about $15,000 each year.

Another former BMV assistant manager, Alice Williamson, was transferred to the auditor’s weights and measures office, where she makes $25,040. She works 21 hours a week as an inspector; Kaitsa said she makes $11,000 less a year than the retiree she replaced.

Finally, Kristen Ford, the BMV’s former manager was hired by the county prosecutor’s office into a vacant fiscal officer position. She makes about $49,000 a year in salary and benefits.

The state shut down the BMV in June, saying it was too close to another Franklin County location. The county initially planned to try to move its operations to another BMV, which was run by a private individual; however, Kaitsa withdrew the county’s application upon taking office, saying he didn’t want to compete with private enterprise.

The BMV was the brainchild of Hanks, who proposed the office as a source of revenue for the county. During his tenure as county auditor, Hanks convinced county commissioners in 2005 to give him $100,000 to open the Lewis Center BMV, saying it could generate $125,000 in yearly profits for the county by 2009.

Its actual performance lagged far behind Hanks’ expectations.

As previously reported by the Gazette, the BMV turned its first profit of $19,000 in 2008, and then made a $3,865 profit in 2009 before closing its doors, according to public records. However, the BMV lost $210,000 worth of county money over its operating life.

atobias@delgazette.com