HAMILTON — Butler County officials blasted the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Monday for preparing new regulations that they say will undermine the ability of counties to continue welfare reform programs.

        The county officials are also upset that the state is reducing Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) funding, a move that will cost Butler County $500,000 to $1 million a year.

        The success of Ohio's welfare reform has stemmed from the flexibility the state gave counties to make decisions about how to operate programs and spend funding, said Bruce Jewett, director of the Butler County Department of Job and Family Services.

        But the state's new regulations that affect county job and welfare services remove that flexibility and require all counties to operate the same way, he said.

        “The state's going away from county flexibility and moving toward county conformity,” Mr. Jewett told the county commissioners Monday. “We think that's a step backward.”

        Commissioner Courtney Combs, chairman of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio's legislative committee, said he plans to discuss this with Gov. Bob Taft when he and two other association officials meet with him next Tuesday.

        “This is a slap in the face to everything we've done in the past few years to make welfare reform successful,” Mr. Combs said.

        Tom Hayes, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said Butler County officials are overreacting.

        He said the regulations are required by the federal government and should not undermine the welfare reform efforts of Ohio county.

        The regulations pertain to the operation of one-stop work-force centers.

        The state has been encouraging counties to establish one-stop centers that offer assistance, job training and educational programs for welfare recipients. The impetus comes from the federal Workforce Investment Act.

        Butler plans to open its one-stop center on Ohio 4 in Hamilton next month.

        Once a center is state-certified, the state will provide it with Job and Family Services employees, computers and rent assistance. Mr. Hayes said Ohio is prohibited from participating in a center that isn't certified.

        Mr. Jewett said the cut in TANF funding will affect job-training and educational programs his agency offers.

        “They're the exact things that help people get off welfare,” he said.

        Mr. Hayes said the state has reduced TANF funding because it is faced with a $234 million deficit on TANF and related programs.

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