Fulton commission rejects staff tax hike proposal for jail improvements
After months of debate, and hours more on Wednesday alone, a narrow majority of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners rejected a budget proposal from senior county staff that anticipated a 4% property tax rate increase in favor of a budget they do not expect will increase the tax rate when it is set this summer.
The tax hike proposal was made primarily to fund improvements to deplorable conditions inside the Fulton County jail. Those improvements are mandated by a legal agreement with the Department of Justice.
Commission Chairman Robb Pitts proposed a mix of revenue and expense adjustments to cut about $32 million from the proposed budget, for what he described as a slight increase over last year’s $1 billion general fund budget. An exact figure was not immediately available. The board approved his proposal on a 4-3 vote.
Property tax rates are set in the summer, but based on current projections, the rate needed to fund the budget would remain flat at 8.87 mills. A mill equals $1 per $1,000 in assessed tax value.
The budget funds county priorities such as physical and behavioral health initiatives and senior services, Pitts said.
“We’re a leader in this state and in this country,” he said.
The budget increases this year’s assumed greater revenue by almost $16 million, including almost $9 million more in tax digest growth. Commissioner Bob Ellis said that could be achieved with a slight increase in revenue from commercial properties.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News in 2018 published a joint investigation that found commercial properties were routinely being sold for significantly more than their government-assigned value. Five years later, Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy found Atlanta and Fulton County are missing out on $290 million each year because of undervalued commercial properties.
The values the Fulton County Tax Assessor’s Office assigns to trophy commercial properties are frequent targets of public criticism. Residents raised the issue again Wednesday during an hour-long comment session before the budget vote.
“I think you all should assess the taxes properly to invest more into affordable housing,” said Sherise Brown of the Housing Justice League. “These services help people get on their feet. It’s not a handout, it’s a hand up.”
The county also could make another $6 million by collecting taxes a month earlier, thereby improving the collection rate, Pitts said.
The budget also cut almost $17 million from the staff proposal, including almost $6 million from debt service, almost $5 million from the “risk fund” that pays legal claims and $3 million from a reserve fund for improvements at the Fulton County Jail.
Some commissioners decried those cuts.
The county might need to issue debt to quickly rehouse inmates when its lease at the Atlanta City Detention Center expires, County Manager Dick Anderson said. Commissioners also debated budgeting for $17 million in legal fees that President Donald Trump and his co-defendants claimed after the Fulton County election interference case against them was dismissed.
“I don’t believe we’re going to owe any money, and even if we do, I don’t think it’s going to come out this year because there are going to be appeals,” Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. said.
The budget allocates about $50 million to a reserve fund to comply with a federal consent decree that mandates improvements at the county’s dilapidated jail. Anderson and Chief Financial Officer Sharon Whitmore had recommended $53 million for that fund.
The consent decree fund could pay for a staffing plan that would cost almost $23 million, Whitmore said.
The recommendation included jail staff bonuses and overtime pay to boost recruitment and retention, enhanced security equipment and inmate medical care and $10 million for facility improvements, county spokesperson Jessica Corbitt said.
Commissioners reprised a recurring debate about who is responsible for the conditions at the troubled jail. The county owns the facility and funds the sheriff’s office but Sheriff Patrick Labat, who is elected separately, manages the jail. It has been plagued by staffing and maintenance issues. The U.S. Department of Justice called conditions there “abhorrent” and unconstitutional.
At least four inmates died in the jail last year. And last month, an inmate set a fire that injured nine people.
“I am certainly not going to vote yes on any budget that reduces the amount we spend to address the consent decree which we are under by the Department of Justice for the conditions in our jail,” Commissioner Dana Barrett said. “Not one penny. We need to put everything we can into fixing that problem.”
The budget also contains an additional $2.5 million for staffing for the two new state court judges Gov. Brian Kemp appointed this month and $2.2 million for wraparound services for permanent supportive housing units that come online this year. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens had complained last week that Fulton was reneging on its commitment to fund the wraparound services.
Those increases are made possible by decreased contributions to the defined benefit pension fund based on a revised projection last week from actuaries, Whitmore said.
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