County Commission budget discussions
The County Commission met for 2 hours Monday night going over a proposed budget.
Here, we break out the major and some of the minor department budget discussions. Each subhead is a different story and different budget.
See all 3 budget proposals here – https://www.thewiregrassfarmer.com/2026/06/16/152118/
These are ONLY budget proposals. These budgets Do Not reflect the changes made at the Monday night meeting.
Constitutional officers
As the County Commission grapples with the budget, they have to deal with Georgia Constitutional Officer budget requests.
Constitutional officers are: Sheriff, Probate Judge, Tax Commissioner, Clerk of Court and Coroner. In Georgia, these elected officials only need to submit a budget request with an amount. The elected officials do not have to explain how they will spend that money.
In Georgia, the County Commission funds Constitutional offices. However, the person in that elected position then has near absolute control over that budget.
Georgia law also requires the County to adequately fund these departments. How much is adequate depends on who you talk to.
In other places, the Constitutional officers have sued the County over their budgets. Sometimes the County wins, sometimes the officer wins.
County Attorney Jamara Shipp said before the Commission cuts any of those budgets, the Board should meet with those officers. A meeting gives that person time to explain their budget request.
That way, the County can prove they negotiated and can give reasons for cutting the request if a lawsuit is filed.
County Clerk Latrice Wilson said the Constitutional Officers met with the County budget committee and explained their budget requests. Mr. Shipp said that is good enough.
Courts
Turner County has several courts. The County budget puts money into all of them.
The courts are:
Superior Court – handles felonies, divorces and such
State Court – handles traffic tickets and misdemeanors
Juvenile Court – handles juvenile cases unless the juvenile is charged as an adultProbate Court – handles vital records, wills, firearms, guardianships for minors and incapacitated adults and orders to send people for mental and substance abuse evaluations
Magistrate Court – Handles bail and small claims
State Court – handles traffic tickets and misdemeanors
Juvenile Court – handles juvenile cases unless the juvenile is charged as an adultProbate Court – handles vital records, wills, firearms, guardianships for minors and incapacitated adults and orders to send people for mental and substance abuse evaluations
Magistrate Court – Handles bail and small claims
In reviewing the budgets for each, the Commissioners found no room to cut any of the courts.
Indigent defense is part of the court systems’ budgets.
“I’ve been calling [the public defender]. Every time I can’t get nobody. We can cut. They ain’t doing what they are supposed to do,” said Commissioner Joe Burgess.
Mr. Burgess said he was calling on behalf of a step-daughter.
The County is obligated to fund indigent defense for all criminal courts. Cutting that budget is possible, but if it runs over, the County is still responsible for the bills. The US Supreme Court has ruled that indigent defence is a right.
Clerk of Court
In Turner County, the Clerk of Court office works with Superior, State and Juvenile Courts.
The Commission questioned Clerk Mary Lee Green’s requests. She asked for $600K for Superior Court and State Court clerk budgets.
“Why does Mary Lee get more money and Penny (Thomas, Probate Judge) get less?” Commissioner Brad Calhoun asked. He did not get a direct answer.
Commissioner Nick Denham said the Clerk of the Court request went down.
County Clerk Latrice Wilson said Ms. Green’s budget called for an increase in jury fees.
Commissioners also questioned Ms. Green’s spending last year.
“She shouldn’t have given a raise and made it retroactive to January,” said Commissioner Dana Whiddon.
“Am I wrong? What she did last year,” Commissioner Brad Calhoun asked. “She added people last year after she got her budget.”
Ms. Whiddon said that is “over and done” and the board needs to move on.
Both departments employ 8 people in total. 6 of those are on the County’s insurance. The budget proposals did not include quite enough money to cover insurance
Jail
The Turner County Jail saw revenue for housing inmates for other counties drop in this budget year.
Sheriff Andy Hester warned the County Commission that could happen if the daily fee for housing inmates went up. The fee did go up. Other counties, with Worth County being a significant change, went elsewhere.
“If you go up on the rates, they are going to pull” inmates out, said Chief Deputy Charles Dean.
That inmate housing income is down $300K as the budget year nears the end.
“We could offset that with the jail fund. I know it will not get entertained. I want to put it out there,” said Commissioner Dana Whiddon.
As of the Monday meeting, the jail housed 62 local inmates. Some of these are Turner County residents. Some are from outside Turner County but were arrested here. Some are waiting for space in a state prison.
“Some of them don’t need to be out,” said Magistrate Judge Blake Christian.
“If they ain’t killed anybody, they need to be out,” Commissioner Joe Burgess said. He immediately added, “A lot of them are better off in jail.”
Mr. Christian said he disagreed.
Mr. Burgess said, “I watch TV” and see that some people charged with murder are released on bail. He again said many of those in the County jail should be out.
The judge again disagreed.
A jail fund adds to the jail budget. That money comes from fine add-ons. Ashburn and Sycamore municipal courts also collect this jail fund money and turn it over to the County. The County in turn lets the Sheriff use that money as he sees fit to keep the jail running.
“I still think we need to use to buy down the [operating] cost of the jail, but I know that is not. going anywhere,” Commissioner Whiddon said.
Recreation
The Rec Department requested $275,000.
This budget sparked conversation about rec and who supports and what the department does.
Commissioner Brad Calhoun said Rec has to be cut. Rec Director Clifford Jordan was asked to be at the meeting, Mr. Calhoun said.
Commissioner Joe Burgess said Mr. Calhoun does not support recreation anyway. Earlier in the meeting, Mr. Burgess threw his support to a proposed budget that fully funded the department.
“I don’t want to raise taxes where we’ve got $300K [for] Recreation. Where is the gate money? I was promised. Show me,” said Commissioner Brad Calhoun. “How much is the gate fee.
Commissioner Dana Whiddon said her numbers show $875 in revenue.
Mr. Calhoun did some math. His figures show that 175 people paid to enter recreational games last year. He said someone is not paying.
“I have some issues with that. I don’t think anybody is going out there,” he said.
The Board also looked at the Concessions at rec’s concessions. Income for the concession stand was half of what was spent, according to County budget figures. Consensus was that the concession stand would close.
“It is costing us twice what was spent [bought at the stand],” Mr. Calhoun said. “Concessions should be shut down.”
In years past, the County contracted someone to run the concession stand. The County got a share of the profits.
Mr. Calhoun also said Rec could be run with fewer employees.
“I think we could do it with less people,” he said.
“He can pretty well do what we need to do,” Commissioner Nick Denham said.
Mr. Denham then said one person has run rec in the past.
“He did a crappy job,” Commissioner Whiddon replied.
Mr. Denham repeated his comment and Ms. Whiddon repeated her comment.
Mr. Calhoun also objected to expenses within rec.
“I see them in Jacksonville and Orlando. They wear better uniforms than the high school. I can’t vote for a tax increase” with that going on a rec, he said.
The Rec Department has taken kids to events in other states.
“I just ask that we not go to Florida and Alabama. I want to play football, basketball and baseball,” Mr. Calhoun said.
EMS Director Robby Royal also said the Holley Pavilion is in very bad shape. He said he recently rented it and found roaches everywhere.
“I get calls on it, dirt roads and recreation,” Mr. Calhoun said.
Mr. Calhoun also objected to the equipment expenses listed in rec.
“We shouldn’t have to buy basketball equipment every year,” he said.
Commissioner Nick Denham said Rec also has other equipment in place that does not need to be replaced.
Commissioner Calhoun offered to cut Rec’s budget in half, setting it around $101K.
“You’ve got to leave him money for something to do,” Ms. Whiddon said.
“I can’t vote for a tax increase with [spending] that much,” Mr. Calhoun said.
Ms. Whiddon asked what the budget should be. Mr. Calhoun replied $100K.
“No,” Ms. Whiddon said. “I’ll do 202 (thousand) and let him figure out how to suck up that 50 (thousand),” Ms. Whiddon said.
EMS
By budget, the EMS is running neck and neck with the jail for the 2nd biggest department budget in Turner County. The biggest budget is for the Sheriff and No. 4 is the Road Department.
“I love EMS. Can I answer any questions?” said EMS Chief Robby Royal at the Monday budget meeting.
He said budget proposals 1 and 3 did the same thing to EMS. Budget 2 will cover the majority of employee vacation time.
Budgets “1 and 3 is me cutting $80K and all my part-time [employees] completely.
With that, some overtime will still happen and there is nothing to help that.
If a crew is on a call and they are at the end of their regular shift, they cannot just leave. They have to finish the call and return to the station to clock out. That means overtime sometimes.
The County Commission discussed the idea of combining the County Fire Chief and EMS Director into one position.
“That is some money you can save,” Commissioner Joe Burgess said. He again called for cuts. “Cut more. You got to do what you got to do.”
EMS Director Robby Royal said he cannot presently serve as a fire chief because he does not have the needed state certifications. He also said he is “too old” to earn those certifications because of the physical activities required.
“If you were chief, it would be easier,” said Commissioner Brad Calhoun.
Chief Royal also said closing Station 2 on the west side of Ashburn will not save the County any money. He said he needs 4 people on duty in order to run 2 ambulances.
He told the Commissioners budgets 1 and 3 would eliminate all the part-time help at EMS. That means firefighters would ride in the ambulances on the weekends, he said, because EMS would not have enough full-time employees to go around.
Mr. Burgess said Chief Royal is doing a good job.
“You guys aren’t going to like it, but I am proposing it,” said Commissioner Dana Whiddon.
She said the County can go ahead and pay for an ambulance on order right now. That bill was supposed to be paid in the next budget. Money would come from sales taxes.
Other commissioners did not outright object to that.
The EMS currently has 3 ambulances, called trucks, that are duty-worthy. Chief Royal said one is often down for repairs.
Even so, he said the County could push a replacement truck off for a year.
Insurance
The County currently offers health insurance to full-time employees. Employees pay $100 a month.
Under the new health insurance program, the net cost to the County is $1,476 per employee.
The Commissioners briefly discussed that.
“Maybe we need to be 400-500. I’ve got to pay it to,” said Commissioner Brad Calhoun.
“I’d rather them pay more,” said Commissioner Dana Whiddon.
“You ain’t getting nowhere, nitpicking this budget. You ain’t getting nowhere,” said Commissioner Joe Burgess.
Sheriff
The Sheriff’s Department will end this fiscal year $200K over budget.
“100,000 of that is insurance,” said County Clerk Latrice Wilson.
“We had some unforeseen this year, car wrecks,” said Chief Deputy Charles Dean
Commissioner Dana Whiddon suggested moving patrol vehicles for the Sheriff from his budget into the sales tax budget. Deputy Dean said that is already done, it is just reflected in the Sheriff’s budget as an expense.
Road Department
The County Road Department has 1 employee slot that was never filled.
Consensus at the Monday County budget meeting is to eliminate that position.
Also, the Board plans to have the deputy road department director move to a field working position.
The department’s gas and oil budget was cut from $200K to $170, which is more in line with what was spent this year.
Extension Service
The Extension Office is down one person right now. That employee took a job in another County Department.
Plans are to hire someone. The state pays part of the expense for County agents.
Agent Lynn Davis put in a request for a new van for the youth programs. 4-H currently has an old and unreliable short bus. Ms. Davis said the school system has a shortage of bus drivers so getting help there is hard to do.
She has been transporting kids in her personal vehicle, but no longer has enough space for that.
Commissioner Dana Whiddon suggested leasing a van as needed. Ms. Davis said she cannot find any vans for lease. She said she would look into renting one as needed.
Also, the Extension Office has paid for a phone line since 2019 that goes somewhere else on County Farm Road. Ms. Davis said she argued with Windstream for a year to get the line turned off. The County has a new Internet Service Provider (ISP). The new ISP kept that line and the billing in place.
Animal Control
Chief Deputy Charles Dean said the County has to provide animal control services.
“No, we don’t. We can make the City (Ashburn) do it through the SPLOST agreement. That will go nowhere in these discussions,” said Commissioner Dana Whiddon.
Under a sales tax sharing agreement Ashburn and the County have, the city is supposed to provide animal control services, Ms. Whiddon said. She also said the rest of the Commission will likely not agree to push that.
