Jan. 30, 2013 – Fulton County’s fund cuts could impact the Hall County Sheriff’s Office budget.

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hall County will likely see less revenue from Fulton County after the Fulton Board of Commissioners voted 5-1 to cut funds for renting bed space in other jails.

Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch said that before Fulton’s commission voted to make the cut, the office had been giving the issue a hard look.

He told the Times that those costs range from basic needs to bureaucratic paperwork.

“Food, water, power, clothing, security, transportation, medical, court,” he listed. “Everything.”

Records show that Fulton paid Hall County almost $1.7 million to house inmates through December 2012 to cover the $35 per day per inmate fee charged by Hall County to board them.

Couch isn’t worried for the immediate future, and said the office is “currently on track for revenue projections for 2013.”

Fulton commissioners cited empty beds in the main facility to justify the cuts. Last year, Fulton spent $4.1 million to house inmates elsewhere.

But the Fulton lockup’s chief jailer, Mark Adger, disagreed.

According to the Gainesville Times, he said that some female inmates will have to sleep on the floor after the county commissioners’ vote.

Adger also said that the move would eliminate flexibility in separating women from men and keeping gang members apart.