Fulton clerk reports $150,010 in first-quarter passport fees and declines further disclosure

The Fulton County clerk of superior court reported $150,010 in passport application fees for the first quarter of 2025 but declined to provide additional details beyond what Georgia law requires, telling commissioners she will ‘‘strictly comply with the law’s quarterly reporting requirements’’ and will not answer further questions about disposition of that income.

Vice Chair Bob Ellis placed the item on the board agenda after public commenters and commissioners raised questions about how passport-processing revenue is handled. Under the recent state law (Senate Bill 19), clerks of superior court must disclose quarterly the total amount of passport application or processing fees received; the statute does not require further accounting of how that personal income is spent.

Clerk Shae Alexander’s disclosure letter to commissioners says in part: "SB 19 is not retroactive. Moreover, the law neither requires nor authorizes the governing authority to demand, inquire, or investigate the disposition, allocation, or use of funds received by the Clerk as personal income. Accordingly, I respectfully decline to answer any questions or provide any information beyond the bounds of what is statutorily required." (She attached a copy of the statute to her response.)

What the board heard and the numbers - The clerk’s office records indicate 4,286 passport applications processed in the first quarter, producing a total passport‑fee amount of $697,517.74 in gross fees handled by the office; the clerk reports $150,010 of passport‑related personal compensation in the quarter. Commissioners also were shown other clerk revenue lines that are not passport-related (the county-general-fund line shown in the clerk’s report was not related to passports, staff said). - For context, the clerk’s annual base salary is $188,583; the passport disclosure figure is the total the clerk reported under SB 19 as fees received and retained as personal income during the quarter.

County limits and oversight Commissioners expressed frustration that the clerk would not provide additional detail. Several noted that passport processing is performed by county-paid staff and asked for transparency since public fees are involved. County staff and the county attorney observed that the clerk is a constitutional officer and that state law prescribes the scope of required reporting; as such the board’s statutory authority to compel more information is limited.

Commissioners asked staff to follow up and report back if any further notice or enforcement action comes from the state or federal level, but no formal request for legal action was approved.

Context and next steps The disclosure was provided to satisfy Georgia’s SB 19 reporting requirement, effective Jan. 1, 2025. Commissioners said they will ask county staff to gather additional comparative information from peer counties and to advise the board on potential next steps or statutory options, should the board decide it wants deeper accounting in the future.