Local & State Headlines

Public safety agencies feel budget cuts

• The state has “turned its back” on public safety through mandated budget cuts, one area district attorney says.

J.D. Sumner

CORDELE — Calling state-mandated budget cuts “frustrating,” one member of the council that governs the state’s district attorneys said Thursday that body’s decision to order furloughs of all state-paid staffers was the most equitable outcome to avoid layoffs.

Denise Fachini, the district attorney for the four-county Cordele Judicial District and member of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council, said the council’s decision Wednesday to approve mandatory unpaid furloughs for state-paid employees was the latest step to abide by Governor Sonny Perdue’s edict to slash state coffers by at least six percent across the board, without eliminating staff positions altogether.

“Unlike other state agencies, our budget is in our staff,” Fachini said. “We don’t have property or bulldozers or backhoes, so when we’re told to cut six percent, that means six percent of our staff. So, my understanding was that this was one alternative to laying off ADA’s.”

The move requires all state-paid employees of the council and each district attorney’s office to take one unpaid day off a month. It’s a move council members hope will be enough to satisfy the governor’s requirement.

“Right now it’s kind of a try-and-see kind of arrangement,” Fachini said. “We’ll try it for September and see what kind of impact it has and then adjust it as we need to.”

The decision comes as prosecutors are being hit with repercussions of a downtown in state revenue collections.

Earlier this month, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that it would be closing the doors of facilities including the crime lab in Moultrie and, if the cuts are continued through the next fiscal year, the forensics lab in Columbus. It was an announcement that came much to the chagrin of southwest Georgia district attorneys, who depend on the Columbus lab to expedite services like drug reports.

“I don’t know why they’re targeting southwest Georgia,” Fachini said. “But the closure of the Columbus lab will directly impact us especially when it comes to drug investigations and that means that these drug dealers will stay out longer on the street before trial because we’ll have to wait on Atlanta to do what Columbus did.”

Ken Hodges, Dougherty District Attorney and former chair of the prosecuting attorney’s council said the governor’s office has effectively turned its back on public safety by issuing the across-the-board cuts.

“They’re being penny wise and pound foolish by cutting the public safety budgets,” Hodges said. “The number one duty of government is public safety. Roads, parks and recreation are all nice and needed things, but the first priority should be to ensure that the people are safe.”

Hodges currently has eight murder trials on the September trial calendar with most of those being prosecuted by state-paid assistant district attorneys.

“Obviously we won’t take our furloughs during trials, but even on the days out of court, my staff is still going to have a mountain of work to come back to because the criminals aren’t going to take a furlough,” Hodges said.

The day after the decision by the council, their judicial counterparts launched the opening volley in an open revolt against Perdue, declaring they would NOT cut their budget under any circumstances.

“We have a duty to push back, and push back now,” said Wyc Orr, a council member who led the charge. “Push back. What could they do to us? They can’t fire us ... It’s time for us to say ’No, thank you.’ We will not cut our budget.”

It was unclear whether the vote would have any impact on the system’s budget, as Perdue’s office said the funds were already being withheld.

“Nobody wants to make cuts,” said Bert Brantley, a Perdue spokesman. “But we’re in this situation and we’ve asked agencies to identify areas of reduction.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.