Powers and Duties; Delegation

1. Law
2. Georgia Code
3. Local Government
4. Organization of County Government
5. County Governing Authorities
6. Powers and Duties; Delegation

1. The governing authority of each county has original and exclusive jurisdiction over the following subject matters:
   1. The directing and controlling of all the property of the county, according to law, as the governing authority deems expedient;
   2. The levying of a general tax for general county purposes and a special tax for particular county purposes;
   3. The establishing, altering, or abolishing of all roads, bridges, and ferries in conformity to law;
   4. Reserved;
   5. The filling of all vacancies in county offices unless some other body or official is empowered by law to so fill such vacancy;
   6. The examining, settling, and allowing of all claims against the county;
   7. The examining and auditing of the accounts of all officers having the care, management, keeping, collection, or disbursement of money belonging to the county or appropriated for its use and benefit and the settling of the same;
   8. The making of such rules and regulations for the support of the poor of the county, for the county police and patrol, for the promotion of health, and for quarantine as are authorized by law or not inconsistent therewith; and
   9. The regulating of peddling and fixing of the cost of licenses therefor.
2. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to prohibit a local law from delegating to a chairman or chief executive officer of a county governing authority jurisdiction over any subject matter provided for in subsection (a) of this Code section.

(Code 1981, §36-5-22.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1987, p. 1051, § 1, Ga. L. 1987, p. 1482, § 8.)

Code Commission notes.

- Ga. L. 1987, p. 1051, § 1 and Ga. L. 1987, p. 1482, § 8 enacted similar Code sections designated as Code Section 36-5-22.1. The Code section is set forth above as enacted by the latter Act (Ga. L. 1987, p. 1482, § 8).

Cross references.

- Application for and issuance of writ of mandamus against county board of commissioners to compel building, repair of county roads, § 9-6-21.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1890, § 337, Ga. L. 1903, p. 41, former Civil Code 1910, and former O.C.G.A. §§ 36-5-1 and36-5-2 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

Act of ordinary (now county governing authority) exercised in matters specified by statute are quasi-judicial functions; and therefore the ordinarys are not liable to suit, even for gross errors of judgment committed in making such contracts. Paulding County v. Scoggins, 97 Ga. 253, 23 S.E. 845 (1895) (decided under former law).

Mandamus will not lie to compel ordinary (now county governing authority) to have bridge built, which was recommended by grand jury. Patterson v. Taylor, 98 Ga. 646, 25 S.E. 771 (1896) (decided under former Code 1890, § 337).

Discretion of ordinary (now county governing authority) as to rebuilding bridges not subject to control unless abused. Dale v. Barnett, 105 Ga. 259, 31 S.E. 167 (1898) (decided under former law).

Mandamus will not lie to collaterally attack order to alter public road. Crum v. Hargrove, 119 Ga. 471, 46 S.E. 626 (1904) (decided under Ga. L. 1903, p. 41).

Transfer of powers.

- O.C.G.A. § 36-5-22.1 did not prevent the county board from passing resolutions which effectively transferred much of the power of the county chairperson to the county board. Krieger v. Walton County Bd. of Comm'rs, 269 Ga. 678, 506 S.E.2d 366 (1998).

Ordinary (now county governing authority) keeps power in face of charter provision.

- Manner of removing obstructions by proceedings before ordinary (now county governing authority) is not divested by municipal charter provisions permitting mayor and council to exercise this power. Hendricks v. Carter, 21 Ga. App. 527, 94 S.E. 807 (1918) (decided under former Civil Code 1910).

Ordinary (now county governing authority) cannot issue bonds to pay for work under contract.

- Ordinary (now county governing authority) has power to make all contracts necessary to perform the duties cast upon the ordinary; but the ordinary cannot issue bonds to raise pay for the work done thereunder, this must be done by taxation. Dent v. Cook, 45 Ga. 323 (1872) (decided under former law).

Sheriff has no authority over commissions generated by use of county jail.

- County sheriff was not entitled to keep commissions received from a company that provided telephone services to county jail inmates as revenue generated using county property or facilities - such as the jail - was itself county property and therefore subject to county authority under O.C.G.A. § 36-5-22.1. Although a sheriff could collect certain fees, such as fees for attending court, O.C.G.A. § 15-16-21 provided that such fees had to be turned over to the county's treasurer or fiscal officer. Lawson v. Lincoln County, 292 Ga. App. 527, 664 S.E.2d 900 (No. S08C1929, 2008), cert. denied, 2008 Ga. LEXIS 899 (Ga. 2008).

Authority to enact ordinance.

- Miller County, Ga., Ordinance No. 10-01, § 3 does not purport to supplant O.C.G.A. § 16-10-6 because the effect of § 3 is to strengthen § 16-10-6 by a broader prohibition with additional specific requirements for any exception; the county had authority, as an incident of the county's home rule power, to enact Miller County, Ga., Ordinance No. 10-01, § 3 so long as the ordinance did not conflict with general law. Bd. of Comm'rs v. Callan, 290 Ga. 327, 720 S.E.2d 608 (2012).

Power to lease.

- Ordinary (now county governing authority) had power to lease directly to an individual certain realty for use in operating a filling station, as it was then being and had been used for 13 years. Such a lease, having been so executed was not void on the ground that the lease was not authorized by law, or that the interest thereby created extended beyond the term of the official then in office, or that it amounted to a commercial transaction in which the county was not authorized by law to engage. Black v. Forsyth County, 193 Ga. 571, 19 S.E.2d 297 (1942) (decided under former law).

Employment of counsel.

- County governing authority has the implicit power to employ counsel for county officers. Stephenson v. Board of Comm'rs, 261 Ga. 399, 405 S.E.2d 488 (1991).

County governing authority's employment of counsel to represent a superior court clerk did not violate Ga. Const. 1983, Art. 9, Sec. 2, Paras. 1(c)(1) or (7), which preclude the authority from exercising any power in a manner affecting "any elective county office" or "any court or the personnel thereof." Stephenson v. Board of Comm'rs, 261 Ga. 399, 405 S.E.2d 488 (1991).

Cited in Holder v. Hall, 512 U.S. 874, 114 S. Ct. 2581, 129 L. Ed. 2d 687 (1994); Bodker v. Taylor, (N.D. Ga. June 5, 2002); Hill v. Clayton County Bd. of Comm'rs, 283 Ga. App. 15, 640 S.E.2d 638 (2006), overruled on other grounds, Mayor & Aldermen of Savannah v. Batson-Cook Co., 291 Ga. 114, 728 S.E.2d 189 (Ga. 2012). Pelphrey v. Cobb County, 547 F.3d 1263 (11th Cir. 2008).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

County commissioners may grant to private corporation a permit to construct sewer across a street dedicated to the county. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U70-36.

County commissioners have the authority to make a refund to the taxpayer so as to correct the error made to the extent of the interest of the county herein; however, should the county commissioners decline to make a refund in this case, the commissioners could successfully defend any effort to force the commissioners to do so under former Code 1933, § 20-1007 (see now O.C.G.A. § 13-1-13). 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 43.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 20 Am. Jur. 2d, Courts, § 15.

C.J.S.

- 20 C.J.S., Counties, §§ 22, 23.

40 C.J.S., Highways, § 339 et seq.

ALR.

- Right of one detained pursuant to quarantine to habeas corpus, 2 A.L.R. 1542.

Right and duty of highway contractor as to barricading or obstructing street, 7 A.L.R. 1203; 104 A.L.R. 955.

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