Lackawanna County officials hope to use a $90,000 state grant to retain the consultants that crafted an extensive financial management plan for the county — a plan rife with recommendations officials are moving or planning to implement.
PFM Group Consulting LLC, which the then cash-strapped county engaged early last year after seeking and securing entry into the state’s Strategic Management Planning Program, presented that plan at a public meeting early last month. The STMP program initially delivered $100,000 in grant funding to support the planning project aimed at achieving lasting fiscal stability.
Officials used that funding to defray the broader cost of engaging PFM, which conducted a cash-flow analysis and created an emergency action plan as precursors to the longer-term report unveiled in early March. The report’s release came after commissioners Bill Gaughan, Chris Chermak and Matt McGloin, who has since resigned, approved in January an application for the county to proceed to the second phase of the STMP program, hoping it would deliver additional funding to extend PFM’s engagement as the county implements the firm’s recommendations.
State Sen. Marty Flynn, D-22, Dunmore, announced that funding last week: $90,000 awarded through the STMP program to support the aforementioned initiative.
“This is great news for our community,” Flynn said in a press release noting “strong financial planning often happens behind the scenes” but plays a critical role in how well local government can serve its residents. “I’m proud to support this investment in Lackawanna County, and I’m confident it will help us build a more stable and sustainable future.”
Reached last week, Gaughan said he’s “thrilled” to receive the grant while reiterating his desire to use it to retain PFM for the implementation phase of the planning project.
“From the beginning I said we are going to turn the finances of Lackawanna County around, but we can’t do it without a plan,” he said. “And we can’t do it without identifying what the weaknesses are and essentially looking at it from both a financial and an operational standpoint.”
“Last year, we, along with PFM, getting into the STMP program, put a lot of work into identifying where the issues were and what we have to do to turn the county around, and we did it,” he continued. “And now it’s phase two, which is the implementation. We were not just sitting around waiting for this announcement. We have been preparing, talking about how to implement these recommendations. PFM is going to be able to provide the technical assistance that we need to really ramp things up and make this move a lot quicker than it probably normally would.”
Chermak was also happy the county secured the grant funding, and thanked Flynn for his support.
“My goal is to just get the county finances under control,” he said, noting that’s been his goal for the past five-plus years.
PFM’s 163-page financial management plan, available online at lackawannacounty.org, contains nearly 50 recommendations, including some steps already taken or underway.
Among other strategies and recommendations, PFM called for the county to bolster its internal financial management capacity and tasked officials with better controlling personnel and workforce costs that account for the majority of general fund expenses.
The plan also calls for increased pension contributions and the implementation of cost-reduction strategies related to the county’s criminal justice system, with PFM pointing in its early March presentation to the district attorney’s office, the sheriff’s office and the Lackawanna County Prison. Efforts to reduce prison overtime have already proven successful.
“We inherited an absolute mess financially, but I’m so confident today that we are going to turn this around,” Gaughan said. “It’s going to take some time, but (I’m) really happy about where we are.”