Norton issues report on HCSO

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville buisnessman Frank Norton, Jr., has released a 66-page financial-related "white paper" on the Hall County Sheriff's Office, a followup to a request for information which he filed in June.

Norton, president of the Norton Agency, filed numerous Open Records requests with the sheriff's department and county government at the height of county budget discussions which at that time included county commission chairman Tom Oliver's call for a tax increase. The tax increase was never enacted but the commission slashed personnel and services across-the-board as it worked to reduce an $11.5 million budget shortfall.

The 66-page report, which Norton released last week, includes 30 pages of supporting documents he obtained from county officials.

In the report, he concludes that "the Hall County Sheriff's Department is a monster division of Hall County Government and so intertwined with the Hall County Financial web that it is almost impossible to present a clear financial picture or obtain definitive actions."

His report delves into, among other things, the amount of overtime paid sheriffs' office employees; questions raises and promotions given by the office since a salary freeze was imposed by the county commission two years ago; and, strongly disputes the use of the new county jail to house (for a charge) prisoners from outside the county, calling for the rent-a-prisoner program, as he calls it, to "make a true profit" or mothballing that part of the jail.

"We appreciate everyone's cooperation in the preparation of this report," Norton said. "As in any report or study, one question leads to twenty, twenty leads to 100, and this study leaves, unfortunately, the reader to ask many more questions. We look forward to clear transparency and openness for a Hall County government."

The report also contains responses from the sheriff's office to most of the issues it raises.

SHERIFF'S OFFICE RESPONSE

Concerning overtime, the sheriff's office responded that "earnings in excess of annual salary could mean many things. For example SWAT pay, dive (team) pay, drug court, working in another department, overtime, etc. The sheriff's office cut $500,000 from overtime and six abolished positions throughout the sheriff's office budget for FY 2012."

Concerning use of the county jail to board inmates from outside the county: "Your sheriff's office has, for the last three years, operated a 'board in program,' housing inmates from other jurisdictions to generate much-needed revenue for the county in an effort to offset the cost of services. Over the past three years, the program, when combined with other charges related to civil process and records division fees, has generated approximately $21 million." Scrapping the program "would enable us to eliminate approximately $1.2 million from our budget and a multitude of headaches associated with the program. But it would cost the county and its residents $6.5 (million) in documented revenues. That's a net loss to the county of $5.3 (million) annually."

Concerning raises/promotions: "While there were promotions within the Hall County Sheriff's Department, there were no raises given to sheriff's department employees."