Leaders of Fulton justice system refuse to take part in budget hearings

Leaders of Fulton County’s justice system are refusing to take part in next week’s county budget hearings, saying a recent change in the way the annual budget is drafted gives undue influence to two commissioners.

The two commissioners, Bob Ellis and Khadijah Abdur-Rahman, wrote legislation that made them the only two commissioners to serve on a “budget commission” that will get the first crack at drafting the county’s billion-dollar spending plan. The Board of Commissioners approved the legislation in August.

The justice-system leaders say Ellis and Abdur-Rahman have publicly opposed their priorities and funding needs, and are asking to present their budget proposals to the full board.

“Let’s speak to each and every one of the commissioners, so that each and every district can be represented and heard,” Fulton County Solicitor General Keith Gammage told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after a Wednesday news conference.

At the news conference, Gammage stood on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse with Sheriff Patrick Labat, Chief Judge Kenya Johnson of Probate Court, Public Defender Maurice Kenner, Clerk Ché Alexander of the Superior and Magistrate courts, and Executive District Attorney George Jenkins.

Gammage said each of the justice officials has submitted a written budget request but will not appear for the hearings.

Ellis on Wednesday called the posture of the justice leaders “perplexing.”

If no one from their offices shows up for their budget hearing, “then they don’t care about transparency or open government and being responsive to the citizens and taxpayers who elect commissioners to evaluate all funding asks and approve a budget that is fiscally responsible,” Ellis said in a text to the AJC.

Ellis noted that all commissioners are welcome to attend the budget hearings, though department heads will be stating their needs to the smaller group that includes Ellis and Abdur-Rahman, along with the county manager and chief financial officer.

He also brushed aside the characterization that he and Abdur-Rahman have opposed budget priorities of justice-system leaders in the past.

“We may not have approved everything that they may have liked,” Ellis said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s not our role to just take every request that comes in the door and approve it.”

Abdur-Rahman could not be reached for comment.

The legislation she and Ellis sponsored calls for the budget commission to submit a proposed spending plan by Nov. 15. The full board can then amend the budget but must adopt a spending plan no later than the second regular meeting in January.

The justice leaders said they also were concerned the Fulton Commission might decide to adopt the 2027 budget in December, rather than in January as it normally does, which would remove from the process the newly elected commissioners who will take office in January.

Next year, the seven-member Board of Commissioners will have a new chairperson, along with either three or four new commissioners.

Ellis said the commission is not considering adopting the budget in December. He cited a Sept. 1 memo the county’s director of finance sent to department heads and elected officials that says the budget will be adopted at either the first or second commission meeting in January.

“I have no idea what they’re talking about,” he said. “They’re trying to fabricate a story that doesn’t exist.”