The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Panel OKS bill to curb officials profiting from passport fees
Georgia lawmakers advanced a bill limiting county superior court clerks and probate judges to a maximum of $7,500 in supplemental pay per year from passport processing fees.
The original version of Senate Bill 19, brought by Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-marietta, prohibited them from taking any of the fees as additional income on top of their salaries. But in the committee hearing Wednesday, Kirkpatrick amended the bill to let them take up to $7,500 after talking with some superior court clerks, she said.
An Atlanta Journal-constitution investigation last year found that Cobb County Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor had received more than $425,000 in passport fees during her first two years in office, on top of her $170,000 salary. Subsequent news stories by other outlets found that other metro area clerks have received huge sums as well.
The recent coverage, Kirkpatrick said, is what brought the issue to her attention.
Superior court clerks are elected constitutional officers who manage record-keeping for the county superior court, including real estate records. Some also process passport applications on behalf of the federal government. Under current law, superior court clerks and probate judges who process passport applications
can take the $35 processing fee as personal income. Many offer to split the fees with the county, but Taylor did not, opting to also pocket the fees paid for expedited shipping.
When the AJC requested records of the payments under the Georgia Open Records Act, Taylor allegedly ordered an employee to delete them, the employee-turned-whistleblower said. Now, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating Taylor’s office.
At Wednesday’s committee hearing, Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-grayson, proposed an amendment to allow up to $15,000 per year to be taken as a supplement, doubling the $7,500 Kirkpatrick offered.
“I’m just trying to find a reasonable compromise,” Merritt said to the committee. “The previous county clerk in Cobb was doing it
for years . ... I do think, had this not come in the news cycle recently, we would not be taking this up today.”
Sen. John Albers, R-roswell, said county commissioners and other elected officials simply receive their base salary, and so should the clerks.
“Why would we pay one group additional personal compensation?” Albers asked. “We’re cherry-picking one group of people and saying, ‘No you should get paid more for serving your constituents no matter what your job is.’ That’s just wrong.”
Merritt’s effort to double the $7,500 supplement failed. With the government oversight committee’s approval, the bill now heads to the Senate Rules committee, which will determine whether it receives a floor vote from the full chamber.