A new proposal to cap county attorney fees at $800,000 could help bring the county’s legal spending within the upper range of other Georgia counties, but it would also be a significant budget increase at a time of severe financial constraints and is already facing pushback from critics.
The proposal follows months of public anger over the county’s legal spending, which is at 139 percent of budget for the General Fund and 508 percent for the Solid Waste Fund, three-quarters of the way through the fiscal year.
At its current rate, Newton County is on track to spend as much on legal services as Chatham County, which has well more than double the population and includes the city of Savannah.
Newton County’s per capita legal spending is between two and seven times that of neighboring counties Rockdale, Henry and Walton. The only county the comes close to Newton County’s per capita legal spending is Macon-Bibb, which has six full time legal employees.
The capped proposal, which was negotiated between Commissioners Levie Maddox, John Douglas and Chairman Keith Ellis with an agreement from County Attorney Tommy Craig, does not include external counsel. It is unknown whether it includes special projects such as the proposed Bear Creek Reservoir, for which Craig acts as project manager and liaison to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Craig has billed the county more than $867,000 to date, according to the most recent approved check registry. The county has also spent more than $27,000 on external legal services.
Commissioners engaged in a heated discussion over legal spending at Thursday night’s budget meeting, with Commissioners Nancy Schulz and Lanier Sims taking the board to task for failing to make good on its vows to publicly discuss the issue, first at the county retreat, which was cancelled, and later at the budget hearings. The proposal’s proponents have defended it as a step in the right direction.
Even if the county’s legal spending was capped at $800,000, it would still be high compared to its neighbors, according to a comparative study prepared by The News.
The following chart was compiled using numbers provided by other Georgia counties through open records requests for all legal services spending, including county or staff attorneys, external counsel and special projects. Population data was based on 2013 census data, while per capita legal spending was calculated using 2014 fiscal year (FY14) expenditures.
Newton County was not able to provide FY14 expenditures. Therefore, the upper and lower ranger of per capita legal spending was calculated based on year to date (YTD) legal expenditure for FY15 ($717,216 so far, including General Fund and Solid Waste) and a projected expenditure report prepared by Tom West, a retired accountant and citizen member of the purchasing policy committee ($1,200,000).
Chatham County (One part time county attorney, two full time paralegals)
Population: 278,434
FY14 legal budget: $1,110,351
FY14 legal expenditure: $975,281
FY15 legal budget: $1,208,794
FY15 YTD legal expenditure: $928,520
Per capita legal spending: $3.50
Henry County (Appointed county attorney)
Population: 211,128
FY14 legal budget: $450,241
FY14 legal expenditure: $348,497
FY15 legal budget: $450,505
FY15 YTD legal expenditure: $357,069
Per capita legal spending: $1.65
Hall County (Appointed attorney)
Population: 187,745
FY14 legal budget: $545,696
FY14 legal expenditure: $498,267.70
FY15 legal budget: $622,686
FY15 YTD legal expenditure: $$370,910
Per capita legal spending: $2.65
Macon-Bibb County (Six full time legal staff)
Population: 154,721
FY14 legal budget: $1,680,649
FY14 Legal expenditure: $1,340,153
FY15 legal budget: $1,448,800
FY15 YTD legal expenditure: $1,045,001.77
Per capita legal spending: $8.66
Whitfield County (Appointed attorney)
Population: 102,945
FY14 legal budget: $200,000
FY14 Legal expenditure: $188,851.95
FY15 legal budget: $200,000
FY15 YTD legal expenditure: $46,807.12
Per capita legal spending: $1.83
Newton County (Appointed attorney)
Population: 102,446
FY14 General Fund legal budget: $419,550
FY14 General Fund expenditure: Not available
FY15 General Fund legal budget: $424,000
FY15 YTD General Fund legal expenditure: $590,023.81
FY15 Solid Waste Fund legal budget: $25,000
FY15 YTD Solid Waste Fund legal expenditure: $127,192.56
*Legal work associated with the Bear Creek Reservoir appears to be split between the Water Fund and the General Fund
Estimated per capita legal spending: YTD $7.00; projected legal spending $11.71
Per capita legal cost with $800,000 cap: $7.81
Bartow County (Appointed attorney)
Population: 101,273
FY14 Legal budget: $250,000
FY14 legal expenditure: $219,697
FY15 legal budget: $220,000
FY15 YTD expenditure: $34,618
Per capita legal spending: $2.17
Rockdale County (Appointed attorney)
Population: 86,919
2014 legal budget: $505,000
2014 legal expenditure: $460,573.36
2015 legal budget: $579,000
2015 YTD legal expenditure: $99,334
Per capita legal spending: $5.30
Walton County (Appointed attorney)
Population: 85,754
FY14 legal budget (general government and water): $418,442
FY14 legal expenditure (general government and water): $400,189.77
FY14 Hard Labor Creek Reservoir legal budget: $22,000
FY14 Hard Labor Creek Reservoir legal expenditure: $12,677
FY15 legal budget (general government and water): $252,500
FY15 YTD legal expenditure (general government and water): $205,124.60
FY15 Hard Labor Creek Reservoir legal budget: $22,000
FY15 YTD Hard Labor Creek legal expenditure $10,573
Per capita legal spending: $4.81
