Opinion ID: 76264
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: County Treasury

Text: 43 We acknowledge that Georgia law grants the county significant control of the purse strings of the sheriff's office. The county governing body sets the total amount of the sheriff's operating budget, pays the sheriff's salary, and pays the premium for the sheriff's official bond. See O.C.G.A. §§ 36-5-22.1, 15-16-20, 45-4-7, 15-16-5; Chaffin v. Calhoun, 262 Ga. 202, 203, 415 S.E.2d 906 (1992). This financial control, nonetheless, is attenuated because (a) the State mandates the minimum salary and the minimum bond amount for sheriffs, and (b) the Georgia Supreme Court has held that the budget must provide reasonably sufficient funds to allow the sheriff to discharge his legal duties, and that the county commission may not dictate to the sheriff how that budget will be spent in the exercise of his duties. Chaffin, 262 Ga. at 203-04, 415 S.E.2d 906; 24 cf. Boswell v. Bramlett, 274 Ga. 50, 52, 549 S.E.2d 100 (2001) (concluding county government approves the superior court clerk's budget but does not control how that constitutionally elected officer spends the budget). Georgia's Constitution further prevents counties from taking any action affecting any elective county office or the personnel thereof. Ga. Const. art. IX, § 2, ¶ 1(c)(1). Payment of a sheriff's salary and for equipment from county funds, when required by the state legislature, does not establish county control over the sheriff's law enforcement conduct and policies. 25