Upson commissioners hold budgets steady, decline immediate increases for Griffin circuit and DA

The Upson County Board of Commissioners voted June 23 to keep most mid-year budget allocations at last year's levels and to defer approving increased funding requested by the Griffin Judicial Circuit and the county's district attorney.

Chief Superior Court Judge Scott Ballard told commissioners the circuit is seeking an additional $35,000 this year, driven largely by a proposed plan to give each of two juvenile judges a $15,000 raise apportioned among the four counties in the circuit. Ballard described mounting juvenile needs, a shortage of state placements and volunteer-led programs that help young people complete training and return to work. "They tell me about the lack of state resources and it's ridiculous," Ballard said.

Acting District Attorney David Stover said the Upson office is handling roughly 1,553 open cases and has two attorneys on staff; he asked the county to fund a third position and to share the annual licensing cost for the Axon electronic-evidence system used across the circuit. Stover said a third prosecutor could clear low-level cases more quickly, reduce the county jail population and generate net savings: "If we can lower that by just 20 inmates per dayat $70 per daythat's a $500,000 savings," he said.

Several commissioners expressed concern about how the circuit proposes to apportion costs among Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Upson counties. The intergovernmental agreement circulating by draft would shift from population-based allocation toward caseload-based figures; commissioners said that could raise Upson County's share from last year's roughly 11.6% to an estimated 18.2%, increasing county expense by about $35,000.

After discussion, Commissioner Watson moved and the board approved a resolution to authorize budgets at last year's levels for the Griffin Judicial Circuit and the District Attorney while approving other budgets that had no requested increases. The motion also approved a modest increase (about $11,116 net county share) for Pine Mountain Regional Library. The motion passed on recorded roll call votes.

County staff said the audit for the prior fiscal year had returned a clean opinion and that the county's net position increased. Commissioners said they remain open to re-examining the circuit and DA requests after further negotiation with the other counties on the IGA and additional details about license costs and staffing projections.

What happens next: the county approved existing funding levels for the circuit and DA for now; commissioners asked staff to continue discussions with neighboring counties on how to allocate multi-county circuit costs and requested more detailed cost breakdowns for the Axon licensing and the DA's staffing proposal.