Are registrants responsible for causing the Sheriff extra work? No, they are not, he doesn't have to do the same work for non sex offenders. So, who is responsible? Ahhh, the State, thats who should be paying the Sheriff for the extra work incurred by the sex offender registry. Registrants should be telling him to BILL the STATE! Hummm, isn't this a -so to speak- a State unfunded mandate? Hey Mr. Sheriff, tell it to your State Representatives and Senators.12-20-2010 Georgia:
Montana pays $240 per year!
Butts County Sheriff Gene Pope wants to levy a $150-per-year fee against registered sex offenders in the county, to pay for the costs incurred to keep track of them.
Butts County Sheriff Gene Pope wants to levy a $150-per-year fee against registered sex offenders in the county, to pay for the costs incurred to keep track of them.
State law requires Georgia sheriffs to maintain lists of sex offenders in their counties and make those lists public, Pope said Monday, but the state does not cover the costs of maintaining those lists and checking in on offenders.
Pope and other officials from the sheriff’s office asked Butts County commissioners, during a meeting on Monday, to consider establishing a $150 annual fee charged to each sex offender to recoup the cost of maintaining the local registry.
“For the citizens of the county, it’s not fair that they have to pay this out of their pocket, because they’re not the ones that committed the crimes,” said Butts County Sheriff’s Lt. Tim Filbeck. “Instead of the community paying it, we’d like for all the sex offenders to pay for it.”
Filbeck cited the case of one offender, who has been deemed a sexual predator, who must be monitored by an ankle bracelet. Filbeck said the offender is unable to pay the cost of monitoring, so the estimated $1,600 per year for the monitor will have to be covered by the sheriff’s office.
Filbeck told county commissioners there are 46 sex offenders on the Butts County registry and that the $150 fee would generate $6,900 to be used to defer the cost of maintaining the registry, which includes the web site, fingerprint cards, photos and other materials.
Members of the Board of Commissioners took no action on the proposal Monday, but if approved, it could be the first fee of its kind in the state. Michael A. O’Quinn, the county’s attorney, said he was not aware of another county in the state that charges such a fee, but also knew no reason the county could not.
“If it’s challenged I can’t guarantee that it would hold up, but unless and until it’s challenged, I see no reason not to try,” O’Quinn said. “This has been an ongoing problem. They’ve [sheriff’s officials] talked to me about it before and it does take a lot of work on their part.”
The state already levies a $250 fee against sex offenders on the registry, but Filbeck said the money does not come back to the county where the offender registered, and that the sheriff’s office doesn’t collect it because there’s no penalty for not paying.
Pope added that there’s also no penalty assessed against local sheriffs for not collecting the $250. With a county ordinance in place, officials could enact penalties for not paying the $150 fee, Pope said.
In other matters on Monday, county commissioners voted to once again delay a decision on whether to allow an Atlanta cell tower developer to shop county property to cell companies for potential development.
Municipal Communications, LLC, is seeking an exclusive agreement to develop cell tower sites on county property in exchange for leasing and other fees to be paid to the county. The county commission postponed a decision Nov. 8, and on Monday voted again to table the matter for 30 days.
Commissioner Gator Hodges said he had questions about the contract, specifically language regarding the approval of individual sites and whether county communications equipment could be installed on the towers.
Butts County Administrator Alan E. White said Monday that should Municipal Communications identify a site for a cell tower, the company would come to the Board of Commissioners for approval to build.
White also announced a called Board of Commissioners meeting will be held Monday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m., for the board to receive an audit report. He said re-elected Commissioner Keith Douglas and Commissioner-elect Mike Patterson will be sworn in during the first meeting in January. ..Source.. Michael Davis
2 comments:
The cost is only $150? I thought it would be higher, but I guess it depends on the state. At least this gives us a benchmark to tell our legislators how much these laws cost per offender at a local level. Good arguement for reducing the registry or getting rid of it altogether!
Come to Montana, we pay $240 a year, they call it a supervision fee. These are all money making operations
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