Chuck Williams’ Sunday Interview with Sheriff John Darr on June 28th, 2015, seemed like a conversation between old friends. Old friends who care little for annoying things like math and, well, FACTS. Since GrumbleButt abhors a vacuum of facts, I decided someone needs to make some sense out of Darr’s interview, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson’s response, and the actual documents and numbers. Because municipal financial matters aren’t as nebulous as a casual conversation between old friends, municipal financial matters are *actually* quite specific.
In the 6 years he has been sheriff, John Darr has overrun his budget by $11,500,000.00. That averages out to nearly $2 million a year. That boils down to $159,722.22 a month; over $5,000.00 a day. It’s no small amount. There has to be a reason for this, right? This is what Sheriff Darr told Chuck Williams;
“The best way to describe the lawsuit is, in my opinion, we are underfunded within the Muscogee County Sheriff’s office to do the things that we are required to do and what is expected of us to do. And that’s probably about as much as I can give you on that.”
But then, in a classic I-don’t-have-ANYTHING-to-say-about-that-BUT-I-will-say-this move, he goes on to say the following throughout the interview;
“Williams: How much is your budget?”
“Darr: The total would be almost $27 million.”
“Williams: And that’s not enough money to do your job?”
“Darr: When we talk about the county jail, and when you looked at the budget process — I thought it was very interesting — once we started looking at things, when you start looking at inmate population to the budget that is allocated to us within the sheriff’s office, I think we were the lowest of anyone that we checked. Think about it. We’re lower than Augusta, Henry County, Macon ..”.
“Williams: These are documented facts?”
“Darr: No doubt in my mind. I know there is a document. Like I’ve told anybody, I recommend that people call the sheriff’s office in Augusta, Richmond County, find out their budget that is allocated toward running the county jail, their inmate population and what is the average cost of housing an inmate for the Richmond County Sheriff’s office. Macon, you name it — I welcome anybody to do that, and then ask us how much we are allocated in the Muscogee County Sheriff’s office, our inmate population, and how we’re spending per inmate compared to other people. It’s lower than all of the ones I presented during the budget process.”
“But to get back to my point — and that’s what I always say, Chuck — I welcome anybody doing that. That’s what they should be doing, and I’m fine with that. It’s real simple for somebody on the outside to say he’s got plenty of money, and this, that and the other, until you actually sit in this seat. And there’s a big difference. When you start talking about a sheriff’s office, there’s a number of things that we are constitutionally required to do by the state of Georgia. And there’s a lot of other things that are expected of us to do within the sheriff’s office, and that’s what a lot of people forget sometimes.”
“Williams: The budget that you’re in now that you need $1.2 million more than what you’re getting?”
“Darr: Yes, but there’s a variety of things that drive that. From medical cost in the jail, the number of inmates — that population goes up and down. Of the big things, if you ever look at the budget and the line item, one of the biggest differences we have is the bailiff and reserve deputy, which is the focus for that group as well. Security for not only the courthouse here, but the Citizens Service Center that they asked us to provide security for security at recorders court and the bailiffs that work in the courtroom for the judges and for us.”
“Williams: But isn’t it her [Tomlinson’s] contention that your office has consistently overspent its budget over the last five or six years?”
“Darr: I think that’s her point, and of course my standard thing is we’ve been constantly and consistently underfunded. And that’s where you have the difference, and that’s been my stance for the last few years.”
“Let’s go back, and I’m not trying to beat the drum here, I could give you three sheriffs’ offices and you contact them and ask what their budget is and what is your budget associated to the jail, and how many inmates do you have. … The cost of housing an inmate in Muscogee County and the cost of housing an inmate in Clarke County, Athens. It was like $16,000-$17,000 thousand for us, $24,000 thousand for Clarke. Come on. That’s the numbers you should be looking at. A lot of people with tell you, ‘You can play around with numbers.’ I don’t play around with numbers. I’m as ethical as one can be, and I’m going to be straightforward.”
“Williams: Is the mayor playing around with numbers?”
“Darr: No. I think we should be talking about the numbers we should be talking about — the cost of the sheriff’s office budget and the number of inmates and what we’re providing. And that’s what I would recommend. Why don’t you call up to Richmond County and say, ‘What’s your budget associated with the jail? Your overall budget is like $59 million.'”
This was Mayor Tomlinson’s response to that;
“One myth or misrepresentation, unchallenged by the Ledger in its recent interview, is that these overruns are somehow related exclusively to the rising cost of inmate healthcare. That is not accurate. Indeed, the million-dollar-plus annual overruns have been largely attributable to inflated payroll supplements paid to certain Sheriff’s Office personnel, resulting in some employees making 30 to 120 percent of their pay in “overtime” not required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act to be paid at all. Rather, these are simply supplements paid through taxpayer funds due to the voluntary custom and management schedule of the Sheriff’s Office.”
“The Sheriff’s Office often argues that even with these overruns, it provides required inmate healthcare and runs its jail cheaper per prisoner than all others in the state. The Sheriff omits, however, that a significant million-dollar-plus portion of the inmate healthcare tab is picked up by CCG and the taxpayers through our contract with the Medical Center, which is not run through his budget but is supplemental to it.”
“The Sheriff’s Office omits that it often transfers monies out of the additional appropriations provided to it for inmate healthcare to pay for discretionary items such as additional uniforms, conference registrations and other operational expenses. The Sheriff’s Office omits that it often expends its first budgetary monies on items outside it mission, allowing inmate medical bills to go unsubmitted and unpaid for months after the end of the fiscal year and many months after they were accrued, causing vendors to threaten collections against the city. Another myth surrounding the present budget dispute is that the city is seeking to rein in these serious budget overruns by cutting funds necessary to run the jail. Untrue. The monies appropriated for the Muscogee County Jail have not been asked to be reduced except as urged by the Sheriff himself in support of the much-anticipated Rapid Resolution effort to reduce expensive jail time for first offenders and nonviolent offenders.”
“The only funds sought to be reduced through the budget process are related to duplicative law enforcement services. (And, no, the Sheriff’s Office is not the Chief Law Enforcement agency of the county, as OCGA § 36-8-5 shows that where there is a countywide police department so funded, the Police Department, not the Sheriff’s Office, is the Chief Law Enforcement agency, and while the Sheriff is required to have “some” budget for law enforcement, those law enforcement resources are not to be duplicative of others provided in the county.)”

“Williams: These are documented facts?”“Darr: No doubt in my mind. I know there is a document.”


One thought on “SuperWonk BreakDown: The Darr Documents, Part 1; Curing the Overruns”
Comments are closed.