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-FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-SUNDAV, NOVEMBER 29, 1987
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he said.
The most significant change is a
shifting of the burden for paying the
salaries of full-time city administra
tive employees. Whereas those sala
ries were once a part of the adminis
trative budget, now they have been
shifted to all departments.
“It is not fair for the administra
tive department to foot the bill when
you’re (the administrative staff) ac
tually distributed through seven de
partments,” said Blackburn. “We’re
charging each department a certain
fee for administrative services.
A City Finance Department has
been created and will be paid with
the SIOB,OOO budgeted for administra
tive salaries, as will the city manag
er, city clerk and city hall secretar
ies. Jeff Honea will head up the new
finance department.
The administrative budget did in
crease from $350,791 to $389,491, but
the contingency reserve fund was cut
nearly in half, from $157,791 to
$79,414.
“We’re going to have to be care
ful,” Blackburn said.
Last year the contingency fund
money went primarily to expendi
tures for the city police during the
January civil rights marches in For
syth County.
“We got caught off guard with the
marches, but because of what we
went ahead and purchased last year
POTTScoatinued from page 1
All told, that comes to $10,506.94.
“That’s an astronomical figure,”
County Administrator Ralph Roberts
said.
Though court officials said they
could not offer a cost comparison be
tween the Potts case and jury selec
tion in other death penalty cases, Rob
erts said any such estimate would
likely be 10 to 15 percent of the cost
thus far in the Potts affair.
He added, “That’s a pittance in
comparison to what it will cost in
Augusta.”
In addition to paying fees for jurors
selected from the Richmond County
roster, Forsyth County will also have
to pay for the lodging and meals of the
jury, local court officials, and sher
iff’s department personnel sent to
maintain security at the trial.
There will also be transportation
charges and “numerous other costs,”
Roberts said.
The bills surrounding the first jury
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we’re a little better prepared for an
emergency this year,” Blackburn
said.
The purchases were for emergency
equipment, often called riot gear.
The city manager said the city will
be receiving revenue from other
sources, primarily liquor sales, if
more contingency money is needed.
Because officials don’t know exactly
how much money liquor sales will
bring in, no plans have been made for
using that revenue this year.
The Police Department also re
ceived more money for 1988, up from
$277,995 to $350,000. Included in the
expected revenues for the depart
ment is $50,000 to be collected in
fines, up SIO,OOO from last year’s
$40,000. This is not an indication that
the city police will be out to get resi
dents though, Blackburn said.
“We don’t expect the police to go
out and write a whole bunch of extra
tickets,” he said. “The increase is ex
pected with the growth we’re
having.”
The budget for the city parks de
partment was raised from $196,114 to
$236,375. The biggest new expense
was $13,000 for net improvements.
Net improvements means the depart
ment will be purchasing a new vehi
cle in 1988.
The street department budget was
boosted from $277,600 to $314,934.
selection do not take into consider
ation the overtime costs for sheriff’s
personnel. Sheriff Wesley Walraven
said he could not offer an estimate of
those costs due to the continued exis
tence of a gag order for officials in
volved in the case.
The SIO,OOO figure is only the most
recent billing for a case that has a 12-
year history. It doesn’t take into ac
count the costs for housing the prison
er in the county jail at numerous
times since his 1975 murder convic
tion for the slaying of Priest, found in
a Forsyth County field, while the vari
ous appeals filed in the case were be
ing litigated.
There have also been several hospi
tal stays for the convict, including one
for the gunshot wounds he received
when he was originally captured and
one after he was wounded in an abort
ed escape attempt in September.
(The county administrator’s office
was unable to provide a rundown of
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Blackburn said the primary increase
was one of $50,000 which makes the
total SIOO,OOO for paving purposes.
“The city is going to have to do
some work in relation to Tribble Gap
Road,” he said. “When you’re install
ing water lines, ultimately you’re go
ing to have to do some resurfacing.”
Blackburn said the state would also
provide some financial aid to help
keep the city’s streets maintained,
but he said he didn’t know how much
help would be forthcoming.
The water budget rose from
$1,642,200 to $1,793,964, but will bring
in only $59,229 in revenue, down from
$90,037 last year.
“There is not much profit margin
with water,” Blackburn said. “We’re
planning to reinvest most of what we
make. Water is a separate entity; the
monies must be put back into the sys
tem. There’s nothing you can do with
it because the federal government
regulates it.”
Blackburn said government regu
lations require municipalities to put
most of what is made on water back
into the system.
The water department budget
showed several significant changes.
The money to be spent in 1988 for
chemicals went up from $36,000 to
$51,800, due to water consumption in
creases. The expense for stationery,
printing, postage and freight were
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costs related to the Potts case prior to
November because this was the first
month that billing in relation to the
case was done under a separate ac
count number. Staff members at the
office explained that Potts’ previous
bills had all been lumped in with those
for all prisoners and would be “impos
sible" to separate out. The hospitals
that treated Potts could not release
billing information due to patient con
fidentially requirements.)
In addition to the costs of a new jury
selection and the resentencing trial in
a county some 180 miles away, fees
for Potts’ court-appointed attorneys
will also have to come out of the coun
ty’s coffers.
Martin Findley, former lead de
fense counsel, has submitted bills to
the county roughly totaling $9,800. Of
that total, some $8,500 is still outstand
ing, according to Findley. The local
attorney was removed from the case
last month due to concerns over his
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down due to a money-saving comput
er system being installed.
Total capital expenditures in
creased from $550,000 to $590,000 to
provided funding for needed water
line maintenance.
“These are things we have to do,
like fixing lines,” Blackburn said.
“With or without the sales tax these
things have to be done.”
Sinking fund payments, the pay
ments made on loans, were less this
year, down from $226,000 to $194,000.
This isn’t a permanent arrangement,
however.
“We paid off a 1958 loan this year
and added a GEFA loan (Georgia En
vironmental Facilities Authority),”
Blackburn said. “This year we’re
paying back $40,000 on the GEFA.
Next year the payments will increase
substantially, up to approximately
$100,000.”
Blackburn said the overall water
picture was good, with rates staying
fairly stable.
“Fortunately, the city is maintain
ing fairly stable water rates,” he
said. “We’re picking up a lot of new
customers, and the more customers
you pick up the more you can spread
the costs around.”
The city should also bring in ap
proximately $29,000 due to the in
crease in the charge to tap on to the
sewer system.
ability to adequately represent Potts
after it was learned that Potts lias in
tended to take Findley hostage during
Potts’ escape attempt.
The fees for Potts’ other attorneys,
Michael Mears of Decatur and Rusty
Jackson of Cumming, will not be tal
lied until the end of the trial.
Another possible cost is a future ap
peal from either side of whatever sen
tence Potts receives at the close of the
Augusta proceedings.
Should Potts again receive the
death penalty, Department of Correc
tion figures indicate it could cost the
state, and ultimately local taxpayers,
approximately $40,000 a year to house
another death row inmate.
State Attorney General Mike Bow
ers said that of the 12 executions that
have been carried out in Georgia
since the death penalty was reinstat
ed, the average time between sen
tencing and execution is approxi
mately seven-and-a-half-years. Potts
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Staff Photo Kathryn L. Babb
SIGNS OF THE SEASON Marvin Byrdwell wires lighting and a speak
er system in preparation for the Cumming-Forsyth County Optimist Club
Christmas tree sale in the parking lot of Tri-County Plaza. The sale began
Friday.
has already been under death row sta
tus for 12 years.
Increasing the burden on the county
is the fact that Georgia, unlike states
such as California and Maryland,
does not provide any funds for indi
gent defense. The responsibility is left
to the individual counties.
Having such a responsibility can
put a strain on any county, particular
ly a small one, especially when the
expense of a capital punishment case
is involved.
“A lot counties cannot even afford
to pay for their roads, for goodness’
sake,” said George Kendall, staff
counsel for the Georgia branch of the
American Civil Liberties Union.
“Certainly a capital case is very
tough for them to swallow.”
Kendall works for the union’s 11th
circuit litigation project which works
to make sure indigent death row pris
oners can get legal representation to
appeal their sentences.
He pointed out, however, that the
expense of providing indigent defense
is an unavoidable reality when the ju
dicial system undertakes the burden
of deciding whether it should take a
human life.
“Capital punishment is sort of like
nuclear power,” he said. “Because
the stakes are higher, it’s going to cost
more to do.”
Hudspeth
only
in the
Forsyth County News