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Three of the top five private employers in Butler County are based in Fairfield, and provide about 20 percent of the city's local income taxes.

And the buying power from their employees is big, said Fairfield Development Services Director Tim Bachman. The thousands of people driving to those three organizations spend money locally, he said.

"Those people are going to be eating lunch, getting a haircut or shopping for a new car on their way to or from work," Bachman said. "It's a substantial amount of dollars that are brought into the community and a portion of those are spent in the community."

Bachman said being in the top five is a tribute to the management teams of Cincinnati Financial, Mercy Hospital Fairfield and Ohio Casualty Group.

"I have seen various expansions implemented for all three organizations, and it's very exciting to see such business growth," Bachman said. "The growth in these companies has meant growth in city services as well as growth for various other businesses within the city who perform both personal and business services for these companies."

According to the city's tax incentive agreement on Cincinnati Financial's third tower construction, the insurance company will be adding more than 500 jobs with a $30 million payroll. The third tower at Cincinnati Financial, which leads the pack of private employers in the county, will allow the company to reorganize its departments and bring in some off-site departments to the facility, said Greg Ziegler, Cincinnati Financial vice president, director of personnel and community relations.

Cincinnati Financial conservatively anticipates increasing its 2,920 employees by 1.5 to 2 percent in 2007, and will add 70 new employees once the third tower is finished in 2008, Ziegler said.

"We hope we are a good resource for the community and providing good opportunities for good jobs," Ziegler said. "We've been stable in our growth through our history, and it opens opportunities for folks to come into a growing organization and develop careers."

Cincinnati Financial moved into their South Gilmore facility in 1985, moving north from the Tri-County area, Ziegler said.

"Before we moved here, we looked all over, and before we went to the third tower, we had looked at other opportunities," Ziegler said. "For a variety of reasons we decided to stay here. It's a good community. It's good access, good population in the area. It's got a lot of positives in the area."

Bachman said it bodes well for the city to have Cincinnati Financial expanding as opposed to moving.

"I think it's good from a tax point, but it's a lot bigger than that. They are here for a reason and expanding for a reason," he said.

Bachman said the city tries to create a business friendly environment.

"From a local government standpoint, we try to provide an infrastructure that allows for the business to expand," Bachman said, referring to city services such as snow removal and building inspections.

When the company moved into Fairfield, it brought 983 employees. When the second tower was built in 2000, the company grew to 2,140 employees.

AK Steel, second in the top five ranking, may compete with Cincinnati Financial for top employer in Butler County as the locked-out steel workers return to work. Alan McCoy, AK Steel's vice president of government and public relations, said the number of hourly employees is likely going to fluctuate over the next two years as the company readjusts to new practices inside Middletown Works. McCoy anticipates the union employees to eventually reach 2,100.

Mercy Hospital Fairfield ranks as the fourth top employer with 1,363 employees, including 128 employees at Mercy HealthPlex. Mercy trails the third top employer, Middletown regional, which employs 1,700.

Mercy Fairfield CEO Jeff Ashin said additional staff likely will be needed once the hospital's fourth floor construction is completed.

"I would estimate we'll need another 20 nurses, and that takes into account a number of different areas," Ashin said. "As we continue our programs and add space, we'll add more bodies because we'll need them."

Once the fourth floor construction is complete, Mercy Fairfield also will increase its number of beds from 221 to 253. The hospital's new Orthopedic Center of Excellence and an expanded neurosurgery center will be on the fourth floor.

Ashin said in the long-term the hospital will have the ability to add another 68 beds.

Fifth on the list with 1,338 employees is Ohio Casualty Group. Their Fairfield headquarters has nearly 1,000 employees at that office, and 350 employees at its Hamilton office.

Ohio Casualty CEO Dan Carmichael said it is an honor to be part of Butler County.

"We consider the Greater Cincinnati/Tri-State region as the source of our strongest customer and agent relationships," Carmichael said. "Our home territory remains one of the most attractive areas for all of our products, and we continue to make investments in the local area to increase our penetration of Butler County and the surrounding area.

"Eighty-eight years after our founding, we are still a good place to work with a very bright future," he said.

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Writ

er Dave Greber contributed to this story.