Atlanta’s failure to sign an agreement with Fulton County means animal control services will be suspended in the city as of 5 p.m. today, April 5.
“Despite months of discussions and ongoing good faith efforts on the part of Fulton County, the City of Atlanta still has not provided a signed inter-governmental agreement to Fulton County for animal services as of this afternoon,” Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts said.
However, Mayor Andre Dickens’ office said in a statement that Fulton County “reneged on a tentative agreement reached yesterday” that was confirmed Friday morning.
“The city understands that the sudden about-face by the County may be due to a statement by Mayor Dickens in response to a question concerning the recent death of the twelfth inmate to lose their life in the Fulton County Jail,” the statement from the mayor’s office said. “Refusing to honor an agreement based on this statement reeks of political maneuvering and jeopardizes the overall safety of our residents.”
The mayor’s office said city residents should call 311 for assistance until this is resolved. The city is identifying emergency services to care for animals in the city.
Fulton has provided animal control services for Atlanta for three months without an agreement, but that can’t continue because of the liabilities it creates, Pitts said. He also said that the county provided the services since Jan. 1 based on the promise that Atlanta would sign the agreement.
A Fulton County spokesperson told Rough Draft Atlanta that the city did provide the county with a letter of intent. However, it failed to include 3½ months of services. The county asked the city on Thursday to provide a corrected letter by 11 a.m. on April 5. No corrected letter was provided, and the city said it would send an updated agreement when the mayor returned to Atlanta “on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
The spokesperson said the city also changed the timeframe to give the county a final agreement, saying it must go through the Atlanta City Council’s committee process. That would extend the process to May 6 rather than the promised date of April 15.
“Fulton County has engaged in ongoing discussion with the City since providing them with the agreement more than six months ago. There has been ample opportunity for this agreement to be brought before the City Council and signed,” the spokesperson said. “Each and every deadline provided to the city has been ignored, despite ongoing efforts to reach an agreement.
The county is not able to provide the services to the city without a signed agreement by state law, County Commissioner Dana Barrett said on Friday. Pitts said the county attorney advised them not to provide the services without that agreement.
Pitts said it is unfair to taxpayers in the 14 other cities within Fulton County to subsidize services for Atlanta, which he said is the greatest user of animal control services with 55% of all calls. Fulton’s share of the costs was calculated to be $6 million. Sandy Springs is paying approximately $400,000 annually as its share of the $9.08 million contract for animal control services.
Fulton County paid for the entire cost of a new animal shelter in Atlanta to replace a facility that had been in use for 40 years and had been cited by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, Pitts said.
Dickens’ office said it was disheartening that the county’s decision was made after it allocated $40 million to a new animal shelter and ignored calls to address the humanitarian crisis at the Fulton County Jail.
Fulton County owes the city of Atlanta $5.7 million in unpaid water bills, the city’s statement said, and the city understands the impact if it suspended services on citizens and jail inmates.
“We would not risk endangering the welfare of people or animals while negotiating in good faith to resolve these issues. We expect the same professionalism and care for our citizens and animals from the county,” the mayor’s office said.
The charges to Atlanta and the other cities are a pass-through to pay for the contract with LifeLine Animal Project to provide animal control services, Pitts said. This includes operating the shelter and offering field services in the 15 cities in Fulton County.
The city of Atlanta had tried to pressure Fulton County into giving them a discount or concession using everything up to and including bullying tactics, Barrett said. She said the county had already provided discounts to all Fulton cities as it covered the additional costs from COVID, supply chain issues, and staffing.
She said the city has asked for free real estate from the county, future help with funding for homelessness, and security around FIFA soccer tournament games – all things the county was willing to do, but had nothing to do with animal control.
Pitts said if Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens presents the intergovernmental agreement as a resolution to the Atlanta City Council, it could be handled in one meeting. But if it is presented as an ordinance, it would take longer because it would need to go through a committee first.