How Buncombe County Built Financial Resilience in The Face of Disaster
Buncombe County’s Chief Financial Officer shares how her team used Workday to maintain critical cash flow and secure federal aid after a historic disaster.
Nearly two years after Hurricane Helene struck Western North Carolina in September 2024, its effects still shape daily life in Buncombe County. Many neighborhoods are still working through long-term infrastructure repairs, families are rebuilding their homes and livelihoods, and county departments remain deeply engaged in recovery. Our finance team is still processing reimbursement packages, auditing project documentation, and coordinating with state and federal partners to secure the remaining funds needed for full restoration. The work did not end when the floodwaters receded; in many ways, it became more complex.
In the storm's first days, the challenge was immediate and profound: protecting residents, supporting employees responding to the crisis, and keeping the county financially stable while critical infrastructure was down. With power, cell service, and internet severed, our finance team relied on Workday, our cloud financial system, to keep essential operations moving and prevent additional hardship for the community.
Those difficult weeks, and the long recovery since, have reshaped how we think about continuity and resilience. Helene showed how quickly a local government can be pushed to the edge, operationally and financially, when a disaster disrupts critical services. Financial resilience can't be built in the aftermath; it has to be in place before the next event. Modern financial systems, clear emergency workflows, disciplined documentation practices, and transparent communication with the public are now essential tools for protecting communities. Resilience is not a one-time action but a sustained commitment, and governments everywhere should invest in strong financial infrastructure now, so they're ready to support their communities on their hardest days.
Looking back on the past two years, four lessons stand out.
1. Support the Workforce That Supports the Community
In any disaster, people are at the heart of the response. Our employees were working around the clock in dangerous and uncertain conditions. Making sure they remained financially supported was essential. Even without power or connectivity, Workday kept payroll secure, accessible, and uninterrupted. By relocating to the Emergency Operations Center, one of the few locations with functioning internet, our team ensured every employee, from first responders to support staff, received the stability of continued pay while they focused on serving the community through the crisis.
2. Protect the Community from Financial Burden
Disasters require fast decisions, but speed can never come at the expense of compliance, strategy, or long-term fiscal health. Every emergency purchase has the potential to become a financial burden on taxpayers if not handled correctly from day one.
Through Workday, we were able to process urgent purchase requests swiftly while maintaining federal, state, and grant funding requirements. We configured emergency workflows to bypass normal approval flow, enabling our EOC teams to procure critical supplies quickly and responsibly. This approach kept local recovery partners paid promptly, avoided costly mistakes, and ensured every dollar spent aligned with legal and reimbursement standards, protecting residents from future financial strain.
3. Document for Reimbursement from Day One
Accurate documentation is vital in a federal disaster. To prevent fragmented records and missed reimbursement opportunities, we immediately isolated all Helene-related activity into a dedicated grant fund within Workday. FEMA-required details were embedded directly into timecards and purchase orders, creating a clean, comprehensive audit trail. With more than $30 million spent to date, this structure continues to streamline federal and state reviews and accelerate reimbursements.
4. Build Transparency with the Public
Residents deserve to know how disaster funding is used. To strengthen public trust, Buncombe County built a public-facing dashboard showing Helene-related spending, commitments, and reimbursements. Updated monthly from Workday, the dashboard gives the community a clear, accessible view of where recovery dollars are going and how they support rebuilding efforts.
Financial Technology Is Vital to Fiscal Resilience
Our experience during and after Hurricane Helene demonstrated that fiscal resilience is not only about reserves or policies. It also depends on modern systems that stay accessible, secure, and adaptable even when local infrastructure fails. Workday allowed us to support employees, make rapid but responsible financial decisions, capture every reimbursable dollar, and maintain full transparency with our residents.
Financial stewardship in a disaster happens quietly, often behind the scenes, but its impact is profound. By combining strategy, compliance, and technology, we protected our community from additional hardship and laid the groundwork for a stronger, more resilient future.