Fulton Sheriff’s Office, county spar over jail funding

(The Center Square) — While the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office has sounded the alarm that it faces a “significant budget crisis,” county officials pushed back on the assertion, saying they have increased the department’s funding.

Sheriff’s officials said that as of Aug. 29, Strategic Security Corp., which inked a contract with the office on June 16, 2023, is owed $1.1 million for three months. On Thursday morning, SSC notified the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and the Sheriff’s Office that the company would no longer provide its services, which county officials said was staffing for jail watch towers, as of 5 p.m. on Friday.

After completing the employment paperwork for Fulton County, the Sheriff’s Office gave conditional employment offers to nearly 50 SSC employees, a move Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts warned “will have consequences for future Jail hiring.”

A county spokesperson told The Center Square that direct and indirect funding for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and the jail has increased from about $117 million in 2019 to about $197 million in 2023 to about $184 million in 2024. However, Pitts said the contract was signed “without the involvement of the Fulton County Purchasing Department.”

“The Fulton County Board of Commissioners approved funding for this service as part of the FY24 budget. A total of $1.3 million was allocated, based on usage of the contract at that time, with input from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office,” Pitts said in a Friday afternoon statement.

“Not until August 2024 did the Sheriff’s Office notify Fulton County management that their spending had already exceeded the budgeted amount by more than $1 million,” Pitts added. “Because the Sheriff’s Office spending had exceeded their allocated budget, they were not able to process all of the vendor invoices.”

According to a Sheriff’s Office release, SSC texted contract employees on Thursday, alerting them the company’s contract had ended and that they should clock out by 2:15 p.m. and not report to work. The Sheriff’s Office deployed personnel from other divisions to staff the jail.

In a statement, SSC Chief Executive Officer Joseph Sordi said the company terminated its services “due to a breach of contract for non-payment of services.”

“Despite multiple efforts to resolve the situation, including numerous emails, phone calls, meetings, and notices to various offices including the Sheriff’s Office, the Mayor of Atlanta’s Office, the County Commissioners Office, and even the Governor’s Office, no viable solution has been proposed by the responsible parties,” the company said in a statement. “Regrettably, no timeline for payment or good faith attempt to address the outstanding balance has been made.”

A Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told The Center Square the funding for contracts and personnel services comes from different sources. SSC’s base pay started at $18 per hour, or about $37,440 per year, while the county-funded security specialist position starts at $41,545.

“Despite the funding support from the Board of Commissioners, Sheriff has [consistently] failed to demonstrate basic budget management practices,” Pitts said. “The public has every right to be concerned about these issues.”

The Fulton County Jail has been in the spotlight amid ongoing concerns about the safety of employees and inmates. The Senate Public Safety Subcommittee on the Fulton County Jail spent months investigating the facility, and last week, it issued a report with 17 recommendations for improving its conditions.