MEDIA RELEASE

November 14, 2014

ELECTED OFFICIALS SUING THE CITY DID NOT SUBMIT FY2015 BUDGET REQUESTS
TO ADMINISTRATORS OR MAYOR AS CLAIMED
LITIGATION EXPENSES ALREADY EXCEED TOTAL AMOUNT OF ALL LITIGANTS
FY2015 BUDGET ADJUSTS
Mayor Teresa Tomlinson confirmed today that not one of the elected officials suing the City
submitted proposed budget requests to City Administrators, as they have asserted. In
pleadings, and throughout a lengthy press conference held last night by elected officials
suing the city, their representatives repeatedly referenced the alleged failure of the Mayor
or other Administrators to submit the litigants requested budgets to City Council. Mayor
Tomlinson stated today those accusations are untrue.
It caught our attention immediately, because the mere accusation that the Administration
did not submit an elected officials proposed budget to the legislative body would state no
legal claim or injury, particularly when they all admit they submitted budget requests
direct to Council for its consideration. So, why would they hinge their claims on such an
allegation? We went back and looked and can confirm today that those allegations are
false. These elected officials did not provide budget requests to the Administration prior to
the submission to Council of the Mayors Proposed Budget on March 28, 2014, stated
Mayor Tomlinson.
In addition, Mayor Tomlinson set out a chart showing that the amount of the litigants
budget adjustments for FY2015 is less than the cost of the litigation already incurred:
Office
Sheriff
Marshal
Municipal Court
Clerk
Superior Court
Clerk

FY2014
Budget
$27,243,428
$1,589,196
$849,666

FY2015
Budget
$27,653,956
$1,579,177
$852,119

Budget
Difference
$410,528
($10,019)*
$2,564

$2,167,462

$2,156,169

($11,293)*

(Asterisks indicate that the Litigants FY2015 Budget would have been more than their FY2014 Budget, but
for City Council recouping the Litigants FY2014 overages from FY2015 available funds)

The citizens need to understand the troubling circumstances of the alleged budget injuries
asserted by the elected officials suing them, said Mayor Teresa Tomlinson. The citizen
taxpayers are footing the bill for this and they deserve transparency.
The Sheriff has hired lawyers to sue the citizens demanding the court enter an order
giving him $800,241 less than the City Council duly appropriated in his FY2015 budget,
explained Tomlinson. The Marshal actually would have been budgeted $3,000 more by
City Council in FY2015 than he received in FY2014, but he requested an additional $13,500
due to his expected overruns in FY2014 and Council recouped that overage from his
potential FY2015 budget funds.
The Municipal Court Clerk received $2,500 more in her FY2015 budget than she did last
year. stated Mayor Tomlinson. Although the Superior Court Clerk received $11,293 less
this budget year than she did last year, that is the result of the Clerks request for a FY2014
budget increase, Councils grant of an additional $19,800 in response to that request, and
Councils recoupment of that FY2014 budget increase out of funds available for her FY2015
budget, all of which simply evidences the legislative councils intensely deliberative budget
decisions.
In all, the citizens are being sued to give the Sheriff less money than he currently has, to
forgive overages by the Marshal and the Clerk of Superior Court and because they
increased the budget of the Clerk of Municipal Court, said Tomlinson. This is crazy
business and the Plaintiff Elected Officials should drop these frivolous lawsuits
immediately before the taxpayers incur another dime.
In recent days, several lawsuits have been filed by the Marshal, Sheriff, Municipal Court
Clerk and Superior Court Clerk against the Consolidated Government of
Columbus/Muscogee County, Mayor, Council, City Manager and other city administrators.
The City and other named Defendants are being represented by Hatcher, Stubbs, The Carter
Schondelmayer Firm and Page Scrantom.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Mayor Teresa Tomlinson (706) 225-3114 or (706) 905-9570