About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2024)
October 14, 2024, The Islander, Page 3 Glynn County demands DA Higgins reimburse county funds By Pamela Permar-Shierling Last Tuesday, October 8, attor neys for Glynn County demanded that Brunswick Judicial Circuit Dis trict Attorney’s office reimburse the county for approximately $1 million due for several month’s of payroll for the entire circuit. Up until the Sept. 7 payroll period, Glynn County had acted as payroll administrator for the DA’s office and paid the entire payroll for the five county district circuit. The DA’s office was to reimburse the county. The DA’s reimbursements dried up in November 2023 and now amount to almost $1 million. On Sept. 7 the Glynn County Board of Commissioners (BOC) sent a letter to Higgins stating it would no longer process the district’s payroll after the Sept. 7 pay period. The letter stated the county would directly reimburse a third party payroll processer of Hig gins’ choosing for the Glynn County office payroll. Higgins, however, had to provide documented payroll infor mation for each payroll requested. The county’s letter also stated, “Furthermore, Glynn County ex pects the District Attorney’s Office to continue submitting invoices for office expenses, utilities, and other necessary costs, as required under O.C.G.A. § 15-18-23. Without proper substantiation, Glynn County will be unable to process payments for these expenses.” The letter continued, “This deci sion comes after a negotiation period between the BOC and the District At torney aimed at resolving outstand ing payroll expenses owed to Glynn County.” On September 13 David Michael Conner of the Conner Law Group wrote a letter to the BOC stating he represented Higgins and the D.A.’s office. Conner’s letter stated, “This refus al to make disbursements to the Dis trict Attorney’s office is unlawful and is violative of both GA. Code Ann. § 15-18-20 and established precedent in this State.” The letter demands that the coun ty disburse $60,958.21 to the DA’s of fice on or before September 20, 2024. This is the amount of the monthly dis bursement of $108,414.75 to the DA’s office from Glynn County’s annual appropriation of $1,300,977 in the FY 2025 budget, minus $47,456.54 cred ited to the DA’s September payroll expenses. The letter demands that Glynn County make the regular $108,414.75 budgeted monthly disbursement on Oct. 1 through June 2025. Conner also demands that $27,003.34 be immediately paid to the DA’s office. This is the total dis bursement of $216,829.50 that the County should have made to the Dis trict Attorney’s Office in July 2024 and August 2024, minus the amount of $189,826.16 that was credited to payroll expenses in those months. “Prompt compliance with these de mands is necessary for the continued operation of the District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Higgins and his office will petition the Court for a writ of manda mus to enforce that appropriate dis bursements are made to the District Attorney’s Office by Glynn County if these demands are not satisfied on or before September 20, 2024.” On Sept. 20 Brad Watkins, of Brown, Readdick, Bumgartner, Carter, Strickland & Watkins, LLP, responded to Conner stating he rep resents Glynn County in litigation matters. Watkins states Glynn County is committed to meeting its funding obligations and will continue to dis burse appropriated funds in accor dance with its budget and applicable law. Watkins enumerated the problems with the DA’s office: • the DA’s office “mismanagement of Glynn County’s funds (including its admitted use of Glynn County’s statutory personnel subsidy to pay for non-Glynn County payroll ex penses and other nonreimbursable expenses) • the growing debt owed to Glynn County of nearly $1 million due to the mismanagement of its finances and refusal to meet its own obligations to fund its payroll • refusal to adhere to O.C.G.A. § 15-18-20(b)’s requirement to obtain Glynn County’s approval of the man ner and amount of compensation un der O.C.G.A. § 15-18-20, (5) • inexcusable failure to seek prior approval or budget amendment from Glynn County and the four other counties in the circuit before exceed ing the amount of funds appropriated by those counties for the DA’s office • the DA’s office refusal to reach an acceptable compromise solution to these problems “Glynn County has had no choice but to discontinue providing payroll processing and administrative ser vices to the DA’s office.” Watkins continued: “The only changes being implemented by Glynn County are (1) the discontinuation of its payroll and administrative services for the DA’s office, and (2) Glynn County’s perfectly reasonable requirement that the DA’s office in voice Glynn County for its actual, verifiable, monthly subsidizable and reimbursable expenses contemplated by O.C.G.A. § 15-18-20 and 15-18-23, which shall then be promptly paid by Glynn County.” The letter states: “Glynn County was handling payroll for four other counties in the Brunswick Judicial Circuit. Glynn County was paying for these other counties’ compensation responsibilities, yet not being reim bursed for this outflow of money. We certainly welcome your explanation for how this was allowed to occur. “Of course, no explanation would be complete without an acknowledge ment of the significant budget short falls created by the DA’s office due to hiring unbudgeted and unapproved personnel, giving unbudgeted and unapproved raises to existing em ployees, and other possible and cur rently unknown financial actions of the DA’s office.” The letter also demanded full and complete payment of all the outstand ing money. After no response came from Con ner, Watkins sent a second letter to him dated Oct. 8 once again demand ing full payment of the amount owed as well as an audit. The letter states: “Glynn County reiterates its demand to examine and audit the District Attorney’s accounts related to “the care, management, keeping, collection, or disbursement of money belonging to the county or appropriated for its use and benefit and the settling of the same. “We request that the District At torney’s Office provide a specific date and time for Glynn County to access and review these records. We antici pate full cooperation from your cli ent in facilitating this examination, and we emphasize that any attempt to hinder or delay this audit will be regarded as a serious breach of the county’s statutory rights. “The continued failure to remit payment for this substantial amount is unacceptable. Glynn County ex pects immediate action to resolve this outstanding debt and will take all necessary steps to enforce its right to full and prompt repayment.” As of Friday, Oct. 11, the DA’s of fice has not responded. 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