WEB EXTRA: What Do Other Tax Commissioners Do?

In our Whistleblower 2 Investigation we discovered that Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand is probably the highest paid elected official in Georgia, but very few people know how he earns such a huge sum. He’s paid $124,105 by Fulton County taxpayers; that’s what you might call his base salary. But he picked up another $201,741 last year by using his office to collect the taxes for the cities of Atlanta, Johns Creek and Sandy Springs.

Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand IM belcher Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand

Those are personal fees paid to Commissioner Ferdinand and are in addition to the fees these cities paid to Fulton County. The City of Atlanta received a personal invoice from Commissioner Ferdinand for $146,756 on top of the $2.1 million it had to pay Fulton County.

Commissioner Ferdinand’s total 2008 compensation puts him far ahead of such political notables as Governor Sonny Perdue ($137,000) and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin ($133,000). Those extras the commissioner earns are a holdover from the days when many of Georgia’s local officials, such as probate judges and clerks of court, were paid on a fee basis because their local counties didn’t have the funds to pay them guaranteed regular salaries. Given what Commissioner Ferdinand brought in last year, we thought we should do a little more digging to see if other tax commissioners are doing the same. The short answer is – no one is anywhere near his level. But two other local tax commissioners either collect or plan to accept such extra compensation.

DeKalb County Tax Commissioner Claudia Lawson IM belcher new new new DeKalb County Tax Commissioner Claudia Lawson DeKalb County Tax Commissioner Claudia Lawson

DeKalb County Tax Commissioner Claudia Lawson uses her office to collect taxes for eight DeKalb County cities, and she’ll add Dunwoody this year. In 2008, she collected additional compensation of $53,700 for these city collections. However, she says she is phasing out of direct personal services contracts with these cities in compliance with a state law passed in 2007. That doesn’t mean she’ll give up the extra money, but it will come from DeKalb County which takes a portion of the tax proceeds collected in cities such as Stone Mountain, Doraville, Pine Lake and Atlanta in DeKalb.

Douglas County Tax Commissioner Todd Cowan IM belcher Douglas County Tax Commissioner Todd Cowan Douglas County Tax Commissioner Todd Cowan

Newly elected Douglas County Tax Commissioner Todd Cowan told me, “…based on my understanding of the additional duties and responsibilities, I’m planning to accept the compensation.” To date though, Commissioner Cowan has not collected anything extra.

Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner Katherine Meyer IM belcher Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner Katherine Meyer Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner Katherine Meyer

The office of Commissioner Katherine Meyer in Gwinnett County collects taxes for seven municipalities in her county, including Lawrenceville, Lilburn and Snellville. But Commissioner Meyer does not accept any additional compensation.

Cobb Tax Commissioner Gail Downing IM belcher Cobb Tax Commissioner Gail Downing Cobb Tax Commissioner Gail Downing

Cobb Tax Commissioner Gail Downing emailed to tell me her office collects municipal taxes only for the City of Acworth, but “I do not charge/collect a ‘personal’ fee.”

Clayton County Tax Commissioner Terry L. Baskin IM belcher Clayton County Tax Commissioner Terry L. Baskin Clayton County Tax Commissioner Terry L. Baskin Douglas County Sentinel Paulding County Tax Commissioner Bill Watson IM belcher Paulding County Tax Commissioner Bill Watson Paulding County Tax Commissioner Bill Watson

Clayton County Tax Commissioner Terry Baskin, Paulding County Tax Commissioner Bill Watson, Rockdale County Tax Commissioner Dan Ray and Forsyth County Tax Commissioner Matthew Ledbetter all tell Channel 2 their offices collect taxes only for their counties and not for individual cities. As a consequence, none of them brings home any extra money on top of his county salary. In fact, Forsyth County’s Matthew Ledbetter emailed, “I am not aware of any counties that employee…(that) practice.” Our Whistleblower 2 Investigation will give him the full story on what is going on.

Rockdale County Tax Commissioner Dan Ray IM belcher Rockdale County Tax Commissioner Dan Ray Rockdale County Tax Commissioner Dan Ray Forsyth County Tax Commissioner Matthew Ledbetter IM belcher Forsyth County Tax Commissioner Matthew Ledbetter Forsyth County Tax Commissioner Matthew Ledbetter

Henry County Tax Commissioner David Curry IM belcher Henry County Tax Commissioner David Curry Henry County Tax Commissioner David Curry

Henry County Tax Commissioner Dan Curry called to tell us he is brand new in office and mostly concerned with other issues, but he says he will not be collecting any personal fees. In fact, his office only collects taxes in one city – McDonough – and is not paid for that service.