Ga. Sheriff Asks County Lawmakers for over $2M to Pay Overtime

A Georgia sheriff is asking lawmakers for over $2 million in order to pay overtime for deputies through the end of the year.

Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat made his request during Wednesday's county commissioners meeting WANF-TV reports. He said he needed the extra funds to pay overtime from October through the end of the year.

Currently, the agency is only able to offer comp time for deputies because of cuts to the agency's overtime budget. 

“When we start paying comp time, we’ve already lost over 60 people with respect to when we stopped paying double time,” said Labat.

The cause of the increased overtime shifts can be connected to the recent elections and long court cases. He said he's now worried that no OT pay could hurt morale.

“Literally they are asking us to fight this fight with our hands tied behind our back," said Labat. "We knew the OT costs were going to rise."

But at least one commissioner objected to Labat's request. Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts

“We have been very generous with providing him with whatever he has requested, and every time he comes before the board he gets $5 million, so much so that I refer to him affectionately as the $5 million dollar man,” said Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts.

“We have a fiduciary responsibility to review and oversee how he’s spending that money, and we’re going to do that,” he added.