Opinion ID: 76238
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Funds

Text: 75 The third factor in the Eleventh Amendment analysis is where the entity derives its funds. The State funds the annual training of sheriffs, funds the Governor's disciplinary procedure over sheriffs for use of excessive force, and pays for certain state offenders assigned to the county jails under the sheriff's supervision. 42 Thus, state funds are involved to some extent in the particular functions of Sheriff Peterson at issue. 76 While Clinch County bears the major burden of funding Sheriff Peterson's office and the jail, it is because the State so mandates. By state statutes, Clinch County must (1) maintain the jail structure, (2) appropriate funds for necessities to inmates (such as food, bedding, clothing, electricity, and sanitation) and the salaries of Sheriff Peterson and his deputies, and (3) pay the premium for the Sheriff's official bond. O.C.G.A. §§ 36-9-5, 42-5-2(a), 15-16-20, 45-4-7. 77 Manders relies on O.C.G.A. § 42-5-2(a), which provides, in part, that it shall be the responsibility of the governmental unit, subdivision, or agency having the physical custody of an inmate to maintain the inmate, furnishing him food, clothing, and any needed medical and hospital attention. 43 But Manders does not allege that Sheriff Peterson denied him necessities in O.C.G.A. § 42-5-2. Rather, Manders challenges only Sheriff Peterson's force policy at the jail and the training and disciplining of his deputies. 78 Furthermore, Clinch County's financial control is attenuated because (a) the State mandates Sheriff Peterson's minimum salary and official bond amount, and (b) Clinch County sets the total budget but cannot dictate how Sheriff Peterson spends it. The Georgia Supreme Court has held that counties 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 v. Calhoun, 262 Ga. 202, 203-04, 415 S.E.2d 906 (1992); 44 see Boswell v. Bramlett, 274 Ga. 50, 52, 549 S.E.2d 100 (2001). 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). 79 Payment of Sheriff Peterson's budget, when required by the State, does not establish any control by Clinch County over his force policy at the jail or how he trains and disciplines deputies. 45 By virtue of State mandates, both state and county funds are involved in the particular functions in issue. This state involvement is sufficient to tilt the third factor of the Eleventh Amendment analysis toward immunity. 80