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Camden County work session narrows 2027 budget as commissioners weigh public-safety and capital tradeoffs
Summary
Commissioners reviewed a projected $1.8 million operating shortfall, negotiated $1.0 million in reduced sheriff requests, and prioritized several capital items while deferring others. A major debate centered on whether to fund $750,000 in new county cardiac monitors now or reallocate that money to other capital needs including technology upgrades.
Camden County commissioners met in a work session to pare the proposed 2027 budget and to agree which capital and operating requests to carry forward to the required advertising and public hearing schedule. Chair opened the session by urging completion before key deadlines: staff is to present the proposed budget on June 2, the county must advertise on June 4 and hold a public hearing on June 11.
The commission said it is still facing roughly a $1.8 million operating shortfall. Commissioners and staff focused early discussion on large public-safety items after the sheriffs office reduced its initial $1.9 million request to about $1.0 million in additional operating need, a reduction described by the chair as a roughly $900,000 savings. Under the current draft, fire and EMS would receive 5% pay increases while general government was proposed at 2.5%.
Capital-improvement choices dominated much of the discussion. Finance reported a capital improvement fund balance of about $563,000. Commissioners reviewed dozens of line items and proposed cuts: they kept a $144,000 vehicle-lease payment (ARPA-funded), cut a planned K9 training-center purchase (saving about $16,900), and trimmed vehicle camera and printer requests. Several items were held for further review.
A central contested trade-off was whether to purchase new county cardiac monitors (commonly called "life packs") at about $750,000 or to fund a $285,000 fire-safety training trailer. The sheriff's office and fire-rescue staff described the operational need for life packs and said existing monitors have roughly a year of useful life remaining; staff noted a systemwide migration of monitors cannot be phased in piecemeal. As one commissioner summarized, "The life packs alone are $750,000," and that figure drove repeated questions about available funding sources and whether opioid-settlement dollars could be used (staff said there was not enough in that balance).
Commissioners also debated a suite of other capital asks: a proposed $150,000 upgrade to the I/Vu HVAC control system for the government services complex, $79,000 in audiovisual upgrades for juvenile court, computer and network refreshes, and dozens of vehicle-replacement requests. On several items the board favored delaying a year to save money; on others, such as the life packs, several commissioners pressed to keep the purchase in the near term.
No formal votes were taken; commissioners agreed to reconvene with updated spreadsheets and vendor clarifications before the next scheduled work session. Chair instructed staff to circulate the revised lists and cost reconciliations so the board can finalize decisions before the required advertising and public hearing steps.
