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Homeland Security Alert for Georgia Local Governments: Don't Miss End of Year Deadlines

11/12/15

By: Coleen Hosack

I. Public Benefits Report pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 50-36-4 and Immigration Compliance Reports pursuant to O.C.G.A. §§ 36-60-6(e) & 13-10-91(7)(A)

An annual immigration compliance report to the Department of Audits and Accounts (http://www.audits.ga.gov/) is due by December 31.  Even if your local government is exempt from the reporting requirements, the local government must still submit the annual report and indicate in the report which requirements from which it is exempt. The report must include the following information:

(a) The agency or political subdivision’s federal work authorization program verification user number and date of authorization;

(b) The legal name, address, and federal work authorization program user number of every contractor that has entered into a contract for the physical performance of services with a public employer as required under Code Section 13-10-91 during the annual reporting period;

(c) The date of the contract for the physical performance of services between the contractor and public employer as required under Code Section 13-10-91;

(d) A listing of each license or certificate issued by a county or municipal corporation to private employers that are required to utilize the federal work authorization program under the provisions of Code Section 36-60-6 during the annual reporting period, including the name of the person and business issued a license and his or her federally assigned employment eligibility verification system user number as provided in the private employer affidavit submitted at the time of application; and

(e)(A) A listing of each public benefit administered by the agency or political subdivision and a listing of each public benefit for which SAVE program authorization for verification has not been received.

II. SPLOST Annual Publication Report pursuant to O.C.G.A. 48-8-122    

If the local government received proceeds from SPLOST, it must publish annually (in newspaper and on web page) no later than December 31 a simple nontechnical report which shows the following for each project:

(a) the original estimated cost,

(b) the current estimated cost if it is not the original estimated cost,

(c) amounts expended in prior years,

(d) amounts expended in the current year,

(e) any excess proceeds which have not been expended for a project or purpose,

(f) estimated completion date, and

(g) the actual completion cost of a project completed during the current year. (h) In the case of road, street, and bridge purposes, such information shall be in the form of a consolidated schedule of the total original estimated cost, the total current estimated cost if it is not the original estimated cost, and the total amounts expended in prior years and the current year for all such projects and not a separate enumeration of such information with respect to each such individual road, street, or bridge project.

(i)The report shall also include a statement of what corrective action the local government intends to implement with respect to each project which is underfunded or behind schedule.

III. Registration of Local Government Authorities pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 36-80-16

Local government authorities are those instrumentalities created to fulfil a specialized public purpose or any other legally created organization that has authority to issue debt for a public purpose independent of a county or city, not to include state authorities. Local government authorities include joint authorities, regional authorities, hospital authorities, housing authorities, residential care facilities for the elderly authorities, resource recovery development authorities, solid waste management authorities, downtown development authorities, airport authorities, industrial, payroll and other development authorities, transit authorities, water and sewer authorities, parking authorities, recreation authorities, stadium and coliseum authorities, building authorities, public service authorities, or any other local government authority regardless of name. Such local government authorities may have been created by local constitutional amendment, general statute, or local law.

By December 31, all local government authorities must register with the Department of Community Affairs (http://www.dca.state.ga.us/) for the current calendar year. Failure to register will prohibit the authority from incurring any debt or credit obligation until the registration is updated.

IV. Publish your new annual budgets to comply with O.C.G.A. 36-80-21(c)

For those counties and cities adopting an annual budget in excess of $1 million, a copy of the final budget for the upcoming fiscal year, must be electronically transmitted in Portable Document Format file to the Vincent Institute (http://www.cviog.uga.edu/) within 30 days of the adoption of the budget.  Since many ordinances require the adoption of the new budget at the end of the year, don’t miss the 30 day window to transmit your budget to the Vincent Institute.

V. Disposition of Forfeited Property report pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 9-16-19(g) and O.C.G.A. § 36-80-21(e)

Any law enforcement agency, multijurisdictional task force, district attorney, or state agency receiving property and proceeds forfeited and income resulting from the sale of forfeited property, including property distributed in kind, shall submit an annual report specifying the property and proceeds forfeited and any income resulting from the sale of forfeited property received during its reporting year and shall clearly identify the use of such property, proceeds, and income, including the specifics of all monetary expenditures and funds on deposit with a financial institution. Such report shall not include any information that is likely to disclose the identity of a confidential source, disclose confidential investigative or prosecution material which could endanger the life or physical safety of any person, disclose the existence of a confidential surveillance or investigation, or disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions. Such annual report shall be appropriately completed and legible. Such report shall be:

(a) With respect to law enforcement agencies, multijurisdictional task forces, and state agencies:
(i) Submitted on a form promulgated by the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, as provided in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of this subsection;
(ii) Submitted by each local law enforcement agency to the political subdivision governing its jurisdiction;
(iii) Submitted by multijurisdictional task forces to each political subdivision governing the jurisdictions involved;
(iv) Submitted by state agencies to the state auditor;
(v) Submitted by January 31 each year for the previous calendar year; and
(vi) Copied and submitted to the Carl Vinson Institute of Government of the University of Georgia as provided in Code Section 36-80-21.
For questions or for additional information on these or any other deadlines, please contact Coleen Hosack at chosack@fmglaw.com.