Camden County CFO warns of $3.8 million operating shortfall as staff seeks cuts and commissioner input

Lisa Lynch, the county's newly hired chief financial officer, told Camden County commissioners at a work session that staff has prepared a draft FY2027 operating budget showing a roughly $3.8 million gap between department requests and preliminary revenue projections.

"I do I have only been here for 30 days," Lynch said, opening the presentation and asking for the board's patience and input as finance works through estimates and recommended reductions. She said departments requested about $51,000,004 in operating expenditures while projected revenues — based on a preliminary 3% ad valorem assumption and incomplete digest numbers — were about $47,631,827.

The shortfall reflects several trends Lynch highlighted: lower local option sales‑tax receipts year‑to‑date (presented as roughly $4.2 million collected against a $6.2 million budgeted target), rising insurance and benefit costs, and the impending exhaustion of one‑time federal pandemic and disaster funds. "Those ARPA funds and FEMA money are running out at the end of this year," Lynch said, noting those were atypical inflows the county cannot replace going forward.

Staff recommended a 2.5% across‑the‑board pay increase for employees as a baseline to address inflationary pressures; the sheriff's office and fire rescue have requested larger raises. "Our sheriff's office patrol division requested a 7.5% increase across the board. We are recommending a 5% increase for them," Lynch said.

Insurance costs were a recurring theme. Lynch described the county's self‑funded health plans and on‑site clinic as cost‑saving measures but said stop‑loss and liability costs are rising. "We are self funded and that has worked out great," she said, adding that premiums and stop‑loss exposure are difficult to predict. Lance, the county's risk manager, explained deductible history and current structure: "The first $150,000 of each claim the county owns and then the stop loss picks up anything above that," and recounted a carrier change that shifted auto liability exposure when Travelers declined to renew coverage.

Commissioners pressed staff on several line items, including a $1,678,000 carry‑forward the county used last year to balance the budget, an identified $831,000 of reductions staff has already taken, and a $67,000 increase in finance largely attributable to migrating Tyler Technologies financial systems to a cloud subscription model. "When you're in the cloud ... you can be working from anywhere," Lynch said, characterizing the move as continuity and resilience planning despite higher subscription costs.

The county's recent assumption of parks maintenance also altered facilities budgets: staff said expanded janitorial scope and full‑year contracting (versus an earlier six‑month estimate) contributed to a notable percentage increase for contracted services and supplies tied to parks. "We really went in and cleaned up areas that just have not been taken care of for years," said a public works representative, describing safety and maintenance work completed since the county took responsibility for the parks.

Lynch closed by asking commissioners to review the materials and provide direction. The commission agreed to continue operating budget work next week on May 12, to schedule an additional session on May 18 if needed, and to review capital expenditures at a subsequent meeting ahead of statutorily required public hearings and the June adoption timeline.

The work session produced no formal votes; staff will bring a capital budget proposal at the next meeting and return to commissioners with more detailed revenue estimates once digest numbers are available.