Applications for Weapons Carry Licenses in Cobb County are approaching record numbers - expected to reach 21,000 this year compared to 12,000 last year.
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 on April 13 to hire four more clerks in the License Division of the Cobb County Probate Court.
This number doubles the staff to process the applications that include full background checks.
Salaries of these four new employees will total an annual impact of about $255,445.
They are expected to begin work within the next three weeks to a month.
However, their salaries will be more than offset by the revenue generated by each Weapons Carry License - $23 to the general fund and a $5 law enforcement fingerprint fee, according to Chief Judge Kelli Wolk of the Cobb County Probate Court in an April 13 memo to Cobb County Manager Jackie R. McMorris.
This $28 figure multiplied by the 21,000 expected licenses will yield $294,000 - $38,555 above the four annual salaries of $255,445.
Commissioner Keli Gambrill voted against the request when told by Cobb County Finance Director William Volckmann that the funding would come from the federal CARES funding to Cobb from last year.
However, he added there “will be additional revenue” and “very little impact to the general fund for FY21.”
“Again, this is the shell game that the county is playing with the taxpayers’ dollars,” Gambrill said - a point to which Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid and Commissioner Monique Sheffield took exception.
Also, the majority of the commissioners voted on April 13 to spend $75,000 for accompanying technology and to expand the atrium area of the Probate Court to allow for more COVID-19 spacing as applicants continue to come into the office on an appointment basis for now.
Georgia procedures: Georgia.gov/apply-firearms-license
Information: CobbCounty.org/courts/probate-court/weapons-carry-permits
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