Questions answered by Lamar Paris, County Commissioner
Cost of County Services, Con't
Q. I saw in the NGN last week on the front page where the county paid $87,981.88 for the Public Defender’s office. What is this and why is the county paying this much?
A. Unfortunately, this is what part of your property tax money goes for. This is a state mandated expense that all counties are required to pay. This covers the county’s financial responsibility for paying for legal defense for those that can not afford it.
Q. Does Union County work with other counties on the cost of our judicial system?
A. Yes. We are part of the Enotah Judicial Circuit. It consists of Union, Towns, White and Lumpkin Counties. The entire court system is funded through this process, including the District Attorney, three Superior Court Judges, Public Defender’s office and the Juvenile Court Judge and system. The state pays for the main salaries, but the counties pay for operation cost, supplement cost and salaries for many of the employees including the Juvenile Judge.
Q. What is the total cost of operating our court system?
A. The total cost that we pay just for the Enotah Judicial Circuit is $344,556.07 This does not include the daily cost and upkeep of the courthouse, grand jury room, jury assembly room, Magistrate, Probate and Clerk of Courts office, all who have a responsibility with our court system, not to mention the jail and Sheriff's office.
Q. How can our small county afford all of these costs of the court system?
A. It is very difficult, but it is also the cost of living in a democracy. It is a very large part of what your property taxes go to pay for. Our system of government provides for being considered innocent until proven guilty. This system which is part of a free society is very expensive, but a requirement of local government established by the State of Georgia. As Commissioner, it has really been hard knowing how much it takes to deal with those in our society who do not follow the laws and end up in our jails and court system.
Q. How often does the county have court? I thought we only had it two times a year.
A. That was in the old days when the Superior Court met twice a year. Today, there is some type of court taking place almost every day in Union County. We have judges that work diligently with the counties trying to save the taxpayers money by limiting the amount of time it takes to get a case to court and get the defendants out of our jail. But at best, it is a slow legal process.
How much of our property tax dollars goes to cover out of the county operations budget of $13,245.100, the entire court system, including the Sheriff’s office and jail, Magistrate, Probate and Clerk of Court’s Office cost in excess of $3,704,843. This cost has to be paid directly out of your property tax funds. In fact this amounts to 56% of total property taxes collected in Union County.
Q. Have you been able to reduce any of the court system costs due to the poor economy?
A. Unfortunately, it has had the opposite effect. With the bad economy, there are more crimes being committed and all court costs are escalating. We also are now housing 12 prisoners in other county jails at a cost of $35 per day per prisoner. Currently we have 76 prisoners in our jail with the maximum our jail should hold being 52. More crime means more emergency calls and higher fuel consumption so the poor economy is only increasing our legal, public safety and court system costs.
Cost of County Services - to be continued