I attended the March 3, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
All commissioners were present.
The Camden County EMA Director was not present for the meeting so his item on the agenda was removed.
And I could tell it was the official beginning of the election season because three candidates for office attended the meeting: Kathy Campbell (Presiding Commissioner), Nick Sherrell (Presiding Commissioner), and Kris Franken (County Auditor).
The first agenda item was “260226 NVRA Bid Opening (Clerk’s Election).”
There was a single bid from EJ Rice for $18,178. The Clerk commented that it was several thousand dollars cheaper than last time and he recommended that it be accepted.
The Commission accepted the bid unanimously.
(After the meeting, I talked to the County Clerk. He explained that this vendor is a Sole Source Vendor that assists with voter rolls verification by mailing out confirmation letters through the USPS to voters in an effort to confirm that they still reside at the addresses listed on their voter registrations.)
The second agenda item was “EMA Budget Amendment $24,250.00 (sale of truck.)”
This was a budget amendment to reflect the sale of a truck that belonged to the Camden County Emergency Management Agency.
It was approved unanimously.
The third agenda item was “Public Safety Law Enforcement Budget Amendment $86.96 (donation received).”
This was a budget amendment to receive a donation from a pizza fund raiser into the wellness and peer support program.
The Commission approved this budget amendment unanimously.
The fourth agenda item was “Monthly Budget/Revenue Status.”
This was an agenda item that Commissioner Dougan had requested to be included on the Commission agenda once per month.
The County Treasurer, Kendra Hicks, presented her portion of the status report.
Hicks reported that the January combined sales tax was up 3.28% from the same month last year. February combined sales tax was up 10.3% from the same month last year. While the county has not yet received the March sales tax revenue, the Treasurer was able to see that the March combined sales tax was also up approximately $11,000.
The 6 major funds currently contained $6.198 million. The ending balance total for all funds including the pass through funds is $13.6 million.
The county has $6.1 million in Certificates of Deposit.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton mentioned that counties are currently dealing with new issues regarding the marijuana tax. Since the courts established that the marijuana county sales tax can only apply to dispensaries that are located in unincorporated county areas, the question of what to do with those taxes that were already collected has become an issue.
Some dispensaries have been asking the Missouri Department of Revenue for the return of that tax money. It wasn’t clear how the dispensaries would return the tax money to their customers. They have 10 years to claim the invalid taxes. In fact, Camden County has been asked by DOR to return $181,000 in marijuana taxes. The money would be withheld from future sales tax revenue.
County Auditor Laughlin stated that Camden County collected a total of $800,000 in marijuana sales taxes. This marijuana revenue was assigned to the Road and Bridge budget.
According to Laughlin, some counties have opted to return it all to DOR. Other counties have decided to wait and see what happens.
County Auditor Laughlin presented his portion of the budget status report.
He explained that payroll was on track. Expenditures are at 17% which is normal. Two departments have spent more than 17%: the Sheriff’s Office and Road and Bridge. Laughlin clarified that it is not unusual for them to be ahead of the trend since they have large expenditure items that occur throughout the fiscal year.
Property tax collection was up. The county has currently collected approximately 74% of the county’s property tax. Normally, the collected property tax is at 71% at this time of year.
Overall revenue collection is less than what was forecast for the 2026 budget, but he expected the highest revenue months to be August, September, and October. Laughlin estimated the current revenue was about $170,000 less than what had been budgeted.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton also mentioned that the county might want to try and lock in fuel prices based on what is currently happening in the Middle East.
Commissioner Dougan confirmed with Auditor Laughlin that the county [revenue] was currently down? Laughlin estimated it was around $170,000, but noted that a successful summer season could improve that.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton advised the Road and Bridge Superintendent to hold off on spending the marijuana tax money until there was more clarity on what was going to be done with that money.
Before the report ended, Sheriff Edgar asked Laughlin if the Sheriff’s Office would still have a $2.4 million shortfall if the tax revenue was still on pace? Laughlin confirmed it.
Kris Franken asked Laughlin about the accounting practices he used for the county departments? Laughlin confirmed the county operates on cash accounting.
Franken questioned that Laughlin was stating that there was a $2.9 million shortfall in the Sheriff’s budget. He wanted to know how Laughlin was calculating that when the extrapolated shortfall was only $1.2 million?
Laughlin stated he uses historical trends to estimate where the taxes should be each month.
Franken questioned how Laughlin could forecast a $2.9 million unless he had already determined that the cash was not going to be there or that the expenditures were not going to be allowed for some undisclosed reason?
Commissioner Gohagan disagreed with Laughlin that the county operates on a cash accounting system. He felt that the county was a hybrid of an accrual and a cash accounting system. Laughlin conceded that it was a “modified cash” system.
Franken asked Laughlin what formula he used to distribute the revenue to various departments beyond the immediate cash payroll and employee appropriations? Franken claimed that revenue money is being tied up in transfer budget lines to control the flow of revenue to various departments. Franken noted that some of these transaction and budget lines might be hidden from the Commission.
Auditor Laughlin said that the commissioners had been given special user access that would allow them to see anything they needed within the accounting system without being able to change data.
Commissioner Gohagan observed that several years ago he had been locked out of the accounting system to keep him from gaining full access to observe what was happening with the budget. Gohagan stated that Commissioner Dougan also had been having trouble getting access to the accounting system.
And that was that.
There might be some confusion about what is actually happening with Camden County’s revenue, but I’d like to offer some data so the hardcore Among the Dogwoods readers can see how some of the sales tax revenue has been trending over the years. The county’s economy has almost never brought in so much sales tax, but some of the increase has to be attributed to inflation. Enjoy and feel free to use this information to bore your spouse to death at parties.
Among the Dogwoods 