Senate subcommittee says more than just the building needs an overhaul at Fulton County Jail

ATLANTA — State lawmakers are skeptical about authorizing a penny sales tax to pay for a new $1.7 billion dollar jail in Fulton County.

Everyone agrees this building needs to be replaced. Prisoners are dismantling parts of the walls and making shanks.

But replacing the jail may not get rid of all the facility’s problems.

The state subcommittee wrapped up its final hearing Friday and the committee chair said the whole system needs an overhaul from the sheriff’s office to county government to the DA and the courts.

Channel 2 Action News was there as Fulton County floated the proposal to ask the General Assembly to authorize a penny sales tax to pay for a $1.7 billion replacement.

Columbus state Sen. Randy Robertson told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that it’s going to be a hard sell to lawmakers and to Fulton County citizens who will ultimately have to approve it.

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“Then I think the citizens of Fulton County are going to be very suspect in granting carte blanche to go out and raise money out of their wallet,” Robertson said.

“I’m pretty confident that we’re going to come up with some pretty strong recommendations,” said Atlanta Democratic state Sen. Sonya Halpern.

Halpern said she is hesitant to talk about a penny tax but concedes it may have to happen, but only after taxpayers themselves vote on it.

“Generally, those SPLOSTs are ballot referendums that the people will ultimately decide on it if they want to take that tax increase,” Halpern said.

Robertson also hinted he’s going to recommend Fulton County use the existing Atlanta City Jail to house overcrowding until a new jail can be built.

“It will include the Atlanta Detention Center and the way it’s getting purposed right now,” Robertson said.

The committee will finish its report by July 1 and will present it to the General Assembly next session.

RELATED NEWS:

County leaders want new sales tax to pay for new Fulton County Jail. Why this is the cheaper option County officials said the $1.7 billion price tag is better than what the county says is the $2.4 billion it would take to retrofit the old jail.

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