County financial consultant to share findings and recommendations, likely later this month – Scranton Times-Tribune

It will mark the third public presentation by PFM Group Consulting LLC since the county engaged the firm under a grant-supported contract last spring, and the first since Democratic majority Commissioners Bill Gaughan and Matt McGloin approved a controversial but arguably unavoidable 2025 tax hike of nearly 33% to mitigate the financial quagmire they inherited from former administrations.

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The PFM contract called for a cash-flow analysis and emergency action plan that helped inform budget and other fiscal decisions last year — including a hiring freeze, purchasing restrictions and the precipitous tax increase that incensed many critics — and a longer-term financial plan that will be the subject of the firm’s forthcoming presentation. The specific date and time of that session remains to be seen, but Gaughan said Wednesday it will likely be later in January.

After seeking and securing entry early last year into the state’s Strategic Management Planning Program, which delivered $100,000 in grant funding to defray the financial planning project’s cost, the county hired PFM through a competitive process to “do a deep dive” on both the county’s precarious finances and its operations, Gaughan reminded the audience at Wednesday’s commissioners meeting.

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“Their work in the form of a report is almost complete,” he said, noting the final report will consist of five sections: an executive summary highlighting important points, a financial-condition analysis, financial-management recommendations, recommendations pertaining to the county’s criminal justice operations and recommendations related to workforce and personnel costs. “Once this report is fully complete we will have a public meeting where the full plan is presented, and that will likely be before the end of January.”

“We will then work to implement the recommendations so that we can continue to make county government more efficient and put the county on stable financial footing,” Gaughan continued. “Difficult decisions had to be made last year, as everyone is well-aware, and they’ll have to be made most likely again this year.”

Gaughan also emphasized that the process of implementing recommendations and achieving sustained financial stability will take some time, noting after the meeting that officials plan to approach the state Department of Economic and Community Development about potential additional grant funding to retain PFM through that process.

“But you can … rest assured that after years of mismanagement and years of neglect, the county is on the right track,” he said. “It’s been an eye-opening experience to be a county commissioner the past year, but I … truly believe that we’re making all the right moves.”

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The most controversial of those moves, the nearly 33% tax hike, should help the county eliminate a massive structural budget deficit that was otherwise projected to reach about $29 million this year. Gaughan and McGloin approved the hike over the vehement objections of Republican Minority Commissioner Chris Chermak, rejecting an alternative budget proposal Chermak put forward as inaccurate, irresponsible and unviable.

Those often-acrimonious budget disputes notwithstanding, the county enters 2025 in a much stronger financial position than it did in 2024.

And while still far from out of the woods, “we are moving in the right direction,” Gaughan said.

Originally Published: January 8, 2025 at 1:14 PM EST