April 6, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

I attended the April 6, 2026, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.

All commissioners were present.

There were no road petitions to hear.

The first agenda item was the “Final Public Hearing – Wavy Leaf Road.”

This was regarding a request to replace the stop sign with a yield sign at the intersection of Wavy Leaf Road and Y Road.

The main advocate for the sign change explained that he has watched the intersection at length and only 10% of the drivers ever actually stop at the sign. He explained that drivers have to look too far over their left shoulder and a yield sign would be safer. He began to engage in an argument back and forth with Commissioner Gohagan after his time had ended.

A second gentleman sat down and concurred that the stop sign should go because nobody ever stops there. Presiding Commissioner Skelton asked him if the speed limit on the road was 40 MPH and everyone drove 60 MPH, should the county increase the speed limit to 60 MPH? His answer was “No.” And with that response, his quiver of arguments seemed to be empty and he walked away from the microphone..

Another resident asked if the Commission would consider adding more yield signs to the road?

Commissioner Gohagan stated that there had been no accidents at that intersection in the 16 years since the fatal crash that caused the current traffic controls to be established.

Presiding Commissioner Skelton asked for a motion regarding the proposed change and no commissioner would make a motion.

Commissioner Dougan observed that he had previously been criticized for putting a stop sign at an intersection (Willow Creek Road). He chose to err on the side of safety.

The second agenda item was “Amendment to Health Dept. Purchase Contract.”

The seller had asked for an amendment to the closing contract to extend the closing date to August 1. The current tenant was asking for the extension to finish renovating their next location.

The Commission accepted the amendment 2-0 with Commissioner Gohagan recusing himself due to a familial conflict.

At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Dougan said he had something he’d like to bring up.

(These last-minute Columbo moments are always good for some entertainment.)

Commissioner Dougan asked County Auditor Laughlin if the county budget was “okay” ?

Laughlin stated it was, but one fund was short $159,000.

I asked Laughlin how he calculated the progress of the projected revenue by each month?

Laughlin stated that in the original budget he had calculated $35 million in revenue for 2026. He said the Commission told him to calculate it at $39 million. He took the last few years of sales tax activity, averaged it, and applied that to the budget number.

He further explained that not all months bring in the same money as other months. So for April, he would calculate the monthly sales tax revenue for April in 2024 and 2025 as a percentage of the total sales tax revenue for those years. He would then average those percentages to predict the percentage of sales tax that might be expected for April of 2026.

He assured us he was not calculating projected sales tax revenue by using a flat twelfth of a year per month estimation.

Commissioner Dougan asked again why Laughlin was saying the county was shy $160,000?

The Auditor said a single fund was short $159,000. All of the other funds were fine.

Commissioner Gohagan said that he thought Laughlin was talking about Fund 01.

Laughlin further explained that when he calculates expenditures, he does simply divide the total number by 12 because he sees less patterns of variation between months. He said current expenditures are tracking at 23% of total projected expenditures.

Commissioner Gohagan asked if Laughlin had the 2026 monthly sales tax percentages projected for the year? Laughlin answered, “Yes and No.”

People began to laugh. Laughlin seemed to say that he is only doing this calculation one month at a time.

Laughlin said that the county is currently beating last year’s revenue numbers, but claimed that the county’s revenue was, in his estimation, trending behind the projected county revenue for 2026.

And that was that.