Baldwin County To Sue The State of Georgia

Millions of dollars could be at stake as Baldwin County Commissioners authorize its lawyers to sue the State of Georgia over an agreement between Baldwin County and the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD).

During a called meeting Tuesday, the five commissioners voted unanimously after a motion by Commissioner Sammy Hall “to file litigation against the state of Georgia for breach of contract.”

The agreement between the county and DBHDD deals with fire department services for the Central State Hospital campus.

DBHDD is the state agency that oversees Central State Hospital.

Attorney Andy Welch will represent the county and tells us the lawsuit will be filed in the next couple of weeks.

County officials believe the state is financially responsible for those fire services because of a 1999 intergovernmental agreement that is supposed to run 50 years.

Baldwin County was notified last year by DBHDD that it would no longer fund the $600,000-$700,000 a year.

According to a county official, the state of Georgia has not made a payment since September 30th, 2020.

During the Fiscal Year 2022 state budget process, Governor Brian Kemp’s budget office and DBHDD did not propose any money for the agreement. Lawmakers eventually added in $300,000. You can see that below. The FY2022 budget takes effect July 1st.

In a statement on the state budget, Governor Kemp put in non-binding language to “disregard” the budget line item for the contract. It is not a veto, so the money does not go away from DBHDD’s budget.

Here is a statement from DBHDD. “The Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities does not comment on pending litigation.”

We received a similar statement from the Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office.