Brunswick DA’s office over budget by $880,000; county defers vote to help

The Glynn County Board of Commissioners deferred a vote to give District Attorney Keith Higgins a supplemental budget request of $362,000 after members of his financial staff made consequential financial blunders.

On July 16, 2024, at a special called meeting for the Glynn County Board of Commissioners, the board received a presentation from DA Higgins. Higgins revealed that the county’s prosecuting office was in dire financial straits — over budget by over $880,000 for the fiscal year 2024, which ended on June 30. To remedy the issue, he asked the county for $362,137.70, representing Glynn County’s 41% makeup of the total population of the five-county Brunswick Judicial Circuit.

The catalyst for the deficit

During a hiring cycle in January 2024, the DA’s office hired three employees with county funding. At the time, the office was operating at a deficit — unbeknownst to Higgins.

In February 2024, Higgins received an email from the Glynn County Finance Department stating that there were overdue payments regarding reimbursement to the county.

“The staff that I have handling financial matters for me in the office miscalculated the amount of the county funds available to hire assistant DAs. They got it wrong,” Higgins told the commissioners.

When employees are hired with county funds, the checks are paid from the Glynn County Finance Department because they act as the payroll agent for all county-paid employees regardless of county. The DA’s office receives invoices from the finance department for the checks that they pay out. Subsequently, the DA’s office is supposed to reimburse the finance department.

“So in the cycle of reimbursing the county for payroll or disbursement of payroll, the first payments that stop payment stopped in November. No payments were made after that point in time. 60 days after the fact, had I known in December that we didn’t have the money to make payroll. We were behind. We had problems. There were things I could have done differently in January of 2024. Number one, I wouldn’t hire these Assistant DAs with a county paid salary.”

Implications of the office’s struggles

The Brunswick Judicial Circuit covers five counties: Appling, Camden, Glynn, Jeff Davis and Wayne.

Collectively, the five counties are home to over 200,000 people. Within the circuit, there are currently 6,640 open cases. The DA’s office has 16 assistant district attorneys and four investigators, according to the presentation.

With over 2,500 cases open in Glynn County, each of the five ADAs would have to take on 504 cases.

“Now, this isn’t the number that we need to do the job as it needs to be done. A study by the American Prosecutor Research Institute back in 1973 found that prosecutors should handle no more than 150 felonies or five 400 misdemeanor cases per year,” added Higgins.

Higgins said he would need 42 ADAs to be fully staffed. He said he was “in error” in saying they were fully staffed at other events he has appeared at in the county.

Prosecutors have extensive duties to prove defendants are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, including meeting with victims to understand how to build an effective trial strategy and reviewing warrants to determine if cases are worth pursuing. Higher case loads have also been found to extend pre-trial detention periods . Pre-trial detention is when inmates are jailed for the crimes for which they are being held in custody. Higgins said it costs the county $48.95 a day for each inmate in the county jail.

Many defendants on lists of potentially compromised cases stemming from the compromised GBNET unit prepared by the Glynn County District Attorney’s Office said they were unaware their accusers had been convicted of misconduct or that their cases could be reviewed until The Current contacted them this past winter .

“We provided services to more than almost 14,000 victims with our victim assistance program. And those services include not just notifying the victims of what court proceedings are that are coming up, but also referring them for services and other agencies helping them fill out a victim’s compensation application for the Victims Compensation Board,” said Higgins. “And just basically and sitting with them during court proceedings as well. They also sit with the victims when we interview them or prior to trial or talk with them about their cases as well.”

District 1 Commissioner Sammy Tostensen asked if Higgins would be willing to reduce his staff to make up for the deficit or spread resources by reducing the number of ADAs he has in counties such as Jeff Davis or Wayne counties. Higgins explained that he was reluctant to do so because he has a “constitutional and statutory duty to them and their citizens.”

“The demands are they still have to do the same same job and same level of job with regard to reviewing discovery watching body cam video evaluating that talking with witnesses arranging witnesses, the job is still the same,” said Higgins “And each case, regardless of which county it is, the requirements are still the same.”

A look into the office’s income

The DA’s office relies on several different funding sources, including amounts provided by each of the five counties in the district. County funding and state funding represent the largest figure of the office’s operating budget, according to the county’s finance department.

Additional revenue streams include various grants, such as the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which are set to expire at the end of this year. These funds are provided to help hire personnel to address court case backlogs, particularly cases involving serious violent felonies.

According to Higgins, the department had the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant cut by 60% in October 2023. The grant helps hire victim advocates who act as liaisons between victims and the court system. They provide victims with information about their rights, the status of their case, and services for which they may be eligible.

“I have other sources of revenue, we don’t use that for purposes of budgeting purposes or planning in terms of what we will do or won’t do for budgeting purposes. But the district attorney’s office receives what’s called 5% money, any fine that’s collected by any court within the Judicial Circuit, we receive 5% of that fine that’s collected,” explained Higgins to the board. “And then we have asset forfeiture funds that we have as well with regard to when assets are seized from somebody during a criminal investigation or a search warrant, things of that nature, that we can file, we file civil action to forfeit those funds if it was used to facilitate the commission of a crime or were proceeds of a crime that we could prove that. So those are other sources of revenue that we have to use to address the situation.”

In FY24, the DA received $9,269.29 in Glynn County asset forfeiture funds, the sheriff’s department received $77,814.52 and the Glynn County Police Department did not receive any, according to the county’s finance department.

How will the office proceed?

Moving forward, Higgins said he would like to implement a position control spreadsheet that only allows hiring an employee if there is an open position, as well as MUNIS, a computer program that restricts the office’s ability to spend money in certain categories if they do not have the money to do so.

He also proposed contracting with the Glynn County’s Finance Department to expand their role from payroll clerk to become the office’s fiscal agent.

“Glynn County Finance would have the bank accounts and would cut the checks and we would make the request to Glynn County Finance to cut the checks,” said Higgins.

Members of the Board of Commissioners opposed the idea, suggesting that the request could overwhelm the county’s finance department.

“I guess my concern would be having our finance department take it over without some kind of accountability in the system. I mean, we are winning awards for our financial team. And if we just take this over,” said District 5 Commissioner Allen Booker. And without some kind of audit, you know, I don’t want that to shine that light on our CFO and her team at all.”

Tamara Munson, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for the county, assured the board that it would be feasible. Adding that the department already handles the circuit wide expenses, but there would need to be a memorandum of understanding that clearly outlines what duties the county finance would and would not be responsible for.

If the county approves the supplemental budget request of $362,137.70, the DA’s office will pay the remaining $517,862.20 back to the county over a four-year period.

The DA’s office is currently in balance fiscal year 2025 and has enough money to pay its employees, said county’s chief financial and administrative officer, Tamara Munson. However, the office has had to leave several positions vacant, such as an investigator in Camden County.

The office was approved for $1.3 million for FY25, which runs from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025.