SCRANTON — Lackawanna County commissioners will retain the financial consultants behind the county’s long-term financial management plan as officials seek more state funding for a salary study and continued plan implementation.
Facing a serious fiscal crisis driven by a ballooning structural budget deficit and other challenges, commissioners originally hired PFM Group Consulting LLC in early 2024 pursuant to the county’s participation in Pennsylvania’s Strategic Management Planning Program. The county’s successful entry into the STMP program earlier that year delivered $100,000 in grant funding to defray the cost of engaging the firm.
Brought on to conduct what officials described as an “MRI” of county finances and operations, PFM’s early work informed debt restructuring, borrowing to avoid running out of money and other sometimes painful steps the fledgling Democratic majority administration of Commissioner Bill Gaughan and then-Commissioner Matt McGloin took to navigate the financial maelstrom and get through the 2024 budget year.
Chief among them was the nearly 33% 2025 property tax hike that Gaughan and McGloin begrudgingly approved in late 2024 over Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak’s objections, an unpopular but arguably unavoidable move that improved the county’s financial outlook entering last year. PFM then released in early 2025 the five-year financial management plan it crafted for the county under its initial engagement, a voluminous report rife with analysis of what contributed to the county’s long-developing financial woes and future-focused recommendations aimed at achieving lasting stability.
Officials have been working to implement elements of the plan since, with Gaughan and Chermak — McGloin resigned early last year — approving in May 2025 an amended agreement with PFM extending the consulting arrangement through July 2026. The county received additional state grant funding to support that engagement during the second phase of the STMP initiative, and now seeks $200,000 more through the program as officials prepare for continued implementation in phase three.
Gaughan, Chermak and Commissioner Thom Welby voted Wednesday to retroactively authorize an application seeking that phase three funding, with the county planning to retain PFM through 2027 in what Chief Financial Officer David Bulzoni described earlier this week as “more of a limited-scope engagement.” Among other duties, the firm will update cash flow projections and provide training for revenue and finance staff to bolster the county’s internal capacity.
The grant funding would also cover a salary study and compensation review “to evaluate compensation structures, market competitiveness, internal equity, and long-term compensation administration practices,” per the resolution commissioners adopted Wednesday.
That project is consistent with and would support a number of workforce management initiatives in the PFM-authored financial management plan. It’s also expected to account for the majority of the $200,000 in funding the county seeks, as the cost of retaining PFM is only expected to be about $25,000.
Gaughan, recounting the myriad fiscal challenges he inherited upon taking office in 2024 and the considerable progress made in the years since, credited PFM with helping “move this county away from crisis management and toward actual financial management.”
“This phase three legislation continues that work in a targeted and responsible way,” he said. “It supports implementation of the recommendations already made. It helps train county staff so we build internal capacity instead of relying forever on outside consultants, which we do not want to do. And it funds a comprehensive salary and compensation review so that we can evaluate county positions with fairness, market competitiveness, internal equity and long-term sustainability in mind.”
A goal of the study would be improved employee recruitment and retention, with Gaughan noting “a county government cannot recruit and retain good employees if its compensation system is outdated, inconsistent or impossible to defend.”
“And I have to tell you, since I’ve been here … it is really hard to understand the compensation in Lackawanna County,” he said. “We have a very hard time hiring people because the compensation is totally out-of-whack.”
A salary analysis would provide a road map for improvements in that area, he contends.
“Obviously you can’t do it all at once, it has to be done over a number of years, but in addition to helping us recruit and retain people, the taxpayers of Lackawanna County deserve a salary structure that’s fair, rational — which it is not rational now — and financially responsible,” Gaughan said.
Officials, meanwhile, expect the phase three engagement with PFM, running through the end of next year, to be the county’s last.
Copies of the county’s financial management plan and related resources are available online at lackawannacounty.org.