Grand jury expenses for year top $58,000

Web posted Monday, February 12, 2001

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By Heidi Coryell
Staff Writer

The cost for the first 12 months of a special grand jury's investigation into local government was more than $58,000, according to accounting records.

Court officials say they can't predict whether the grand jury will cost more or less in the coming year, but they maintain that conducting such an in-depth investigation is a bargain for local taxpayers.

``I don't think it's an exorbitant cost for the time they've been in session,'' said Judge William M. Fleming Jr., the chief judge of the Augusta Judicial Circuit.

No one knows how much longer grand jurors will continue to convene, but there are no plans to dissolve the panel any time soon, Judge Fleming said.

``I don't know that it's going to create any budget crunch for the court,'' he said. ``If they were really abusing the system, going out and doing all kinds of foolish things like running up travel bills and trying to hire all kinds of experts ... we would have to look at the budget and say we can't handle this.''

But so far, that has not been the case, he said.

On average, the special grand jury spent $4,850 per month last year. That total includes the cost of paying the grand jurors and fees for a court reporter to transcribe testimony.

Jurors are each paid $25 a day for each day they attend a special grand jury function. Between January and December of last year, accounting records show, jurors were paid five times for their services, totaling $25,825.

``It's a bargain, and it's a great imposition on those people who are serving,'' Judge Fleming said.

The other major expense associated with the special grand jury's investigation has been payment of a court reporter, whom jurors have asked be present when testimony is given. Accounting records show that the reporter fees, incurred between Jan. 20 and Dec. 13 of last year, total $30,585.07.

The only other cost officials have identified is $1,795 for copies of bank records.

The expense of special grand jury activities to date is $58,205.07, or 5 percent of the Superior Court judges' 2000 budget. The court was budgeted $1,104,243 last year and the same for 2001. The jury's expense is less than 1 percent of the Richmond County judicial system's budget for last year, which was $8,355,148.

Looking at the costs on their own is misleading, said District Attorney Danny Craig, who has worked with the grand jury during its 14-month existence.

``There's no such thing as a cost analysis,'' Mr. Craig said. ``There should only be a cost-benefit analysis because that's the only way you can weigh the benefits to the public, including the grand jury.''

The special grand jury's actions have been under a shroud of secrecy since its members were selected in December 1999. Its members have never spoken to the media, and any records or documents that might reveal the panel's activities have not been made public.

But invoices on file in the city's accounting department offer a glimpse into the jurors' activities.

Court reporter bills indicate, and the district attorney confirms, that grand jurors have separated into committees that are studying different areas of local government, including the airport, the Augusta Commission, the city's pension plan, the wastewater treatment plant and the fire department.

Although jurors are not required to have a court reporter present at their meetings, one is present when testimony is given, Mr. Craig said.

Invoices show that a court reporter was present at 95 grand jury meetings last year, with the charges for a single meeting ranging from $50 February 10 to $857 June 15.

Based on court reporter invoices, testimony was taken at 28 meetings of the fire department committee, four meetings of the airport committee, two meetings of the commission committee and once at a meeting of the pension and wastewater treatment committees. Of the meetings attended by a court reporter, the majority, 58, were not identified under any subheading.

It is unclear how many times jurors have convened without a reporter.

Based on the number of compensation checks issued last year, the number of jurors at the panel's meetings has steadily decreased.

From December 1999 through February 2000, 25 checks were cut, indicating all the grand jurors plus the foremen of two previous grand juries attended at least one session.

But of the 23 jurors impaneled, four jurors never attended a session from April through September, and six were absent from sessions held in October and November.

``I know they have had a couple of grand jurors who have had difficulty attending because their job duties have not allowed them to attend as regularly,'' Mr. Craig said. ``It's not that they have people who aren't coming. There are some people who find it harder to get there at every session than others.''

Reach Heidi Coryell at (706) 823-3215.

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