Sheriff’s office overspends budget, losing contract jail employees

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office lost the services of a private contractor that supplied security officers for the jail due to nonpayment of more than $1 million.

The sheriff’s office entered into a contract with Strategic Security Corp. (SSC) in 2023 to provide staffing for watch towers at the Fulton County Jail. The agreement was made without the involvement of the Fulton County Purchasing Department , County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said in a statement Friday.

Commissioners approved funding for the service in the FY2024 budget. They allocated $1.3 million based on usage of the contract at that time with input from the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office didn’t notify county management that their spending had exceeded the budget by more than $1 million. That prevented them from processing all of SSC’s invoices.

“Since 2019 funding for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and Jail has increased by 66 percent,” Pitts said. “Despite the funding support from the Board of Commissioners, the sheriff’s office has consistency failed to demonstrate basic budget management practices. The public has every right to be concerned about these issues.”

“SSC sent word to the commissioners and the sheriff’s office on Aug. 29 that they would no longer provide security services to the jail as of 5 p.m. today, Aug. 30,” Sheriff Pat Labat said in a statement.

However, during negotiations between SSC and the sheriff’s office on Thursday, SSC sent employees a text message instructing them to leave their posts and not to report to work at the jail in the future.

Labat said personnel from all divisions within the sheriff’s office were sent to staff areas of the jail that had been abandoned.

Pitts said Fulton County Manager Dick Anderson and his team worked with the sheriff’s office to place those SSC contract employees into existing vacancies with the sheriff’s office. Immediate needs were addressed. But it will have consequences for future jail hiring, Pitts said.

Sheriff Pat Labat said nearly 50 SSC employees came to the jail Thursday evening and were giving conditional offers of employment as security specialists. It is a permanent, full-time position with benefits. Some of them who were originally scheduled to work under the SSC contract on Thursday night instead took shifts as county employees after completing employment paperwork.

Labat said his office has been underfunded in every aspect, an issue the sheriff’s office has been addressing since 2021.

Pitts’ office released funding data for the sheriff’s office and jail that show in 2019 the county allocated $117 million in direct and indirect funds supporting the sheriff’s office. This funding continued to increase to $197 million in 2023. That slightly decreased in 2024 to $184 million.

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