County audit finds large overtime, missing financial records in sheriff's office review

At the Clayton County Board of Commissioners meeting on May 20, auditors gave a progress update on a review of the sheriff's office that highlighted high overtime use, gaps in timekeeping records and outstanding invoices the county must account for before the fiscal year closes.

The audit presentation, delivered to the board by audit staff identified in the meeting as Landry Markerson, said the county recorded 52,906 overtime hours in calendar year 2024, producing about $5.539 million in overtime costs. Markerson said, "total number of overtime hours used was a 52,906." For 2025 through May 16 the auditors reported 58,000 hours charged by 393 employees, with a year-to-date total dollar amount of $2,198,000 as of that pay period.

Why it matters: county leaders in April agreed to a budget amendment for the sheriff's office and asked auditors to reconcile overtime and other expenditures. Auditors told the board they have not received many requested financial documents and so used alternative sources, including grand jury presentments and prior audits, to assemble a picture of fund balances and liabilities.

Auditors described gaps in the sheriff's office timekeeping. Markerson showed Kronos timecard reports that contained many "exceptions" and entries with no in/out punches and said that in some cases time was manually entered by other staff. He described an audit-trail view that showed a "time card editor" as the data source and said in one example "all this time was manually entered" and that multiple staff made edits and signoffs without the employee verifying their own card.

Auditors also presented a partial accounting of bank accounts and cash-on-hand reported to previous auditors. A summary slide cited a projected cash figure of roughly $9.5 million at June 30, 2024, and auditors said they had identified at least 12 Truist bank accounts tied to sheriff's office activity; another Truist account labeled "Clayton County Sheriff Inmate Trust 2" was noted but its balance was not provided to auditors.

On outstanding liabilities, auditors told the board the sheriff's office budget lacks money to pay $8,372,000 in invoices they have identified. Auditors said roughly $5.965 million of that is in invoices "in hand" and the remainder, about $2.406 million, are anticipated invoices that could arrive before the fiscal year closes. Auditors displayed line-item invoices for prisoner transports, including multi-thousand-dollar monthly invoices; one example listed a line of 200 transports at $350 each for a $70,000 invoice for a single month.

Auditors cited state law and county code in support of their records requests. The presentation quoted Georgia law OCGA 36-1-7 on sheriffs' returns to the grand jury and also referenced Clayton County Code (Article 1, section 2-10) that gives the board authority "to examine and audit all claims and accounts of officers". Markerson said county finance cannot attest to the sheriff's separate accounts when the sheriff maintains bank accounts and records beyond what county finance holds.

Board reaction and next steps: commissioners asked how the audit findings affect the FY25 close and FY26 budget work. The county's finance staff said they were still reviewing budget impacts and that invoices are becoming past due, accruing late charges. Commissioners asked for further documentation and for the audit team to continue reconciling timekeeping, bank statements and invoices.

The auditors recommended additional reconciliation work and said they would return with expanded findings once the outstanding bank statements and other records are provided. The board did not vote on fiscal action during the presentation; commissioners discussed how the outstanding invoices might be handled as the fiscal year ends.

Ending: auditors said their review is ongoing and that they will present further detail once requested records are produced to the audit team.