DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson has had the budget and the authority to give his employees a well-deserved pay raise for the last two years but chose not to do so.

As a constitutional officer, elected by the citizens of Dawson County, Johnson has sole discretion over how he manages his budget. Board approval is not required.

But on July 2 Johnson did come before the Board to request approval of a 15 percent across-the-board pay increase for employees. In a passionate plea to the Board he said, “In a time when law enforcement agencies are aggressively competing for staff through increased pay, benefits, signing bonuses, recruiting bonuses, etc., DCSO continues to fall further and further behind in these areas.”

But at last Thursday’s meeting, Commission Chairman Billy Thurmond explained to the sheriff that he can give his employees a pay raise any time he chooses.

Johnson has had serious budget management issues in the past. In 2017, his first year in office, he initiated a lawsuit against the Board in an effort to have them increase his budget. The lawsuit failed and, at the end of that year, the sheriff discovered he had $526,565 left over in his budget. That money had to be returned to the county fund balance.

Again in 2018, the Board allocated more money to the sheriff’s budget than he actually spent. At the end of that year, Johnson had $200,995 left over. In two years, Johnson wound up returning $727,560 to the county fund balance.

2020 is an election year and Johnson has not yet announced whether he will seek reelection. Two candidates — Jeff Perry, a veteran parole officer, and Marcus Sewell, Chief Investigator for the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office — have announced they will campaign for sheriff. Johnson’s opponents are expected to attack the sheriff for what they perceive to be his fiscal mismanagement.

 

 

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