Wednesday, January 17, 2001
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Wednesday, January 17, 2001 |
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Commission under fire for jail, rezoning County defends jail fee decision By DAVE HAMRICK "We're going to get there. Be patient," said Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn as he prepared to fire off the latest round in the battle over jail space and tax equity. All five county commissioners signed Dunn's response to a Dec. 14 letter from mayors of Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone. The mayors had written to former commission Chairman Harold Bost expressing their disagreement with county plans to possibly charge daily fees for housing the cities' misdemeanor offenders at the Fayette County Jail. The idea of charging for their prisoners angers city leaders, who have continually argued that their residents pay about $3 million more in taxes to the county than they receive in services. City residents already pay more than their fair share of the cost of operating the jail, city officials maintain, and charging additional per diem fees would only compound the tax inequity. County commissioners say they want to charge the fees because city courts often sentence prisoners to jail time in attempts to collect minor fines, costing the taxpayers more in jail costs than the amount of the fines. In his Jan. 11 response to the mayors' Dec. 14 letter, commission Chairman Dunn gives the following example: "For example, in one current case, we have a city prisoner sentenced to six months incarceration or to pay a $650 fine, whichever occurs first. At $40 per day, the county taxpayers will pay a minimum of $7,200 (medical expenses could make this amount much higher) to try to recover $650 for a city." But in their previous letter, the mayors dismissed the idea of categorizing prisoners: "Because we already pay for the operation of our jail, we fully expect the county to house our detainees in our jail at no additional cost, regardless of your classification of the crime or the court that sentenced the detainee to our jail." The disagreement appears to have scuttled the county's plans to levy impact fees charged to developers to help defray the governmental costs of growth to help pay for the jail. It was during negotiations this past fall between the county and the cities to develop an intergovernmental agreement allowing the impact fees that the County Commission announced plans to begin charging the cities for misdemeanor prisoners sentenced by municipal courts. At that time, the county was in negotiations with the South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail Authority to rent space in its Union City jail for Fayette's overflow, after County Attorney Bill McNally had warned commissioners that overcrowding at Fayette's jail was reaching dangerous levels. The county has since entered into a contract to house 50 prisoners at Union City, for $2,250 a day. When the county notified the cities of its plans to charge fees, the cities reminded the county of a 1993 agreement in which the county promised to house city detainees for free. Any party to that agreement must give six months notice before terminating it (see related story). A final agreement on impact fees was to be signed within days, but city officials quickly added a paragraph to that agreement stating that city detainees would be housed at the jail for as long as the impact fees are collected at least 20 years. County officials balked at that, and the impact fee agreement has been stalemated ever since. For the text of the mayors' letter and the commissioners' response, visit The Citizen's website on the Internet at http://www.thecitizennews.com. In a Dec. 5 joint meeting between county and city leaders, the subjects of the jail impact fees, tax inequity and per diem charges for municipal prisoners occupied three hours of heated discussion with no consensus. A series of letters followed between various city officials and former commission Chairman Bost, but so far neither side has budged from their original positions. Text of mayors' letter, county's reply
[Editor's npte: The following are the letters exchanged between the mayors of three Fayette cities and the county commission.]
Dec. 14, 2000 The Honorable Harold Bost Fayette County Board of Commissioners 140 Stonwall Ave., Suite 100 Fayetteville, GA 30214
Dear Harold: Thank you for personally taking the time to met with representatives of each municipality to determine the number of detainees in our jail that is under the control of municipal courts versus those under the control of the Magistrate, State or Superior Court. For the period of time researched, we have no reason to question the accuracy of the numbers, but we do question their significance. As you no doubt recall, at the FUTURE meeting on Nov. 29, 2000, several representatives of the municipalities repeatedly explained our position that municipal surcharges and taxes are already paying for all detainees housed in the jail, regardless of which court sent them there. We further explained that your position would result in the municipalities paying twice to house detainees in our jail. Unfortunately and evidently, we did not do a very good job of communicating to you our fundamental rationale for our position and our objections to your position. Further, even if we agreed with your position at the meeting and the conclusion in your Dec. 5 letter, and we do not, we further have a problem with the calculations in your letter. Basically, you failed to identify and accept responsibility for detainees housed in our jail that were arrested by the Sheriff's Department for misdemeanors. As we understand your position, the municipalities must pay for those municipal detainees being held in our jail for misdemeanors. Conversely, you feel those municipal detainees being held for felonies that must go to Magistrate, State or Superior Court will be the responsibility of the county and paid for by the county. The inconsistency here is that there is, no doubt, some number of detainees in our jail that were arrested by the Sheriff's Department for the commission of misdemeanors that you have failed to identify and calculate. Thus, we can only conclude that you expect the municipalities to again pay twice for our detainees committing misdemeanors and to also help pay for the Sheriff's Department's misdemeanor detainees through municipal surcharges and taxes. Harold, please clearly understand that this issue is not resolved; in fact, we unanimously feel there is no issue. Because we already pay for the operation of our jail, we fully expect the county to house our detainees in our jail at no additional cost, regardless of your classification of the crime or the court that sentenced the detainee to our jail. In summary, we expect the same treatment in this matter as the county bestows upon itself.
Respectfully, Robert L. Lenox Mayor, Peachtree City Kenneth Steele Mayor, Fayetteville Lisa Richardson Mayor pro tem, Tyrone
Jan. 11, 2001 Honorable Robert L. Lenox Mayor, Peachtree City 151 Willowbend Road Peachtree City, GA 30269
Dear Mayors: This letter responds to your letter dated Dec. 14, 2000 concerning your municipal court detainees in the County Jail. The number of detainees you refer to from our Dec. 5, 2000, letter, while not overwhelming, is significant and subject to change on a daily basis. It has been significantly greater in the past, and we appreciate your recent attempt to reduce that number. For the sake of clarity, let me state that your discussion of misdemeanants versus felons is not the issue here. The cities can and do remand significant numbers of misdemeanants to our courts rather than your municipal courts. We handle those cases without comment, for this is the reason we have a county jail, i.e. to house felons and anyone else your court remands to us. In fact, on any given day, significantly more than half the prisoners in the jail were arrested in one of your cities. All offenses could, and in the past have been, handled by State, Magistrate or Superior courts. I don't believe anyone would seriously challenge the premise that one of the primary purposes (if not the primary purpose) of establishing a municipal court is to produce significant revenues for that particular city. You have all established municipal courts and your budgets clearly indicate that you derive significant monies through the fines and forfeitures levied by your courts. The issue at hand is one of fairness. Your courts collect and retain all fines and forfeitures levied by them. If a prisoner cannot pay a fine, the county gets the prisoner and the expense of housing the prisoner (approximately $40 per day). For example, in one current case, we have a city prisoner sentenced to six months incarceration or to pay a $650 fine, whichever occurs first. At $40 per day, the county taxpayers will pay a minimum of $7,200 (medical expenses could make this amount much higher) to try to recover $650 for a city. The taxpayers of the unincorporated county and the other cities should not have to pay it. If the city wants the individual incarcerated, we are willing to do so if the city merely pays the per diem expense. Your letter takes issue with the fact that the county may also, at times, have similar prisoners. The difference is that all fines and forfeitures from our courts are county funds. If we were to place someone in jail for such minor offenses, our courts' fines and forfeitures would be paying the bill. We agree that the issue is not resolved. The current agreements addressing the 10 percent surcharge issue are still in effect and the county will honor those agreements. However, you should assume that we will renegotiate those agreements at the appropriate time in the near future.
Respectfully, Fayette County Commission Greg Dunn, Chairman Linda Wells, Vice Chairman Herbert E. Frady, Commissioner Harold Bost, Commissioner A.G. VanLandingham, Commissioner
cc: Ken Steele, Mayor, Fayetteville Sheryl Lee, Mayor, Tyrone
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