Atlanta Panel Backs $68 Million Detention Center Sale; Full Council to Weigh It October 19
ATLANTA — Atlanta is a city in Fulton County, Georgia. Atlanta's Finance/Executive Committee voted on October 14 to back a proposed sale of the Atlanta City Detention Center to Fulton County, recording a favorable recommendation of 2-0 with three abstentions. Alex Wan and Wayne Martin voted yes; Jason Winston, Byron Amos and Matt Westmoreland abstained. The committee recommendation is not final Council authorization, and full Council consideration is listed for October 19 at 1 p.m.
Resolution 26-R-4001 would authorize the mayor to execute a sale agreement for the detention center at 254 Peachtree Street SW, at a price not exceeding $68 million. A separate lease with Fulton County and the sheriff, lasting up to 50 years and capped at $1, would preserve space for people in city custody or under Atlanta Municipal Court jurisdiction, and the county would continue reserving space and honoring existing agreements for the Center for Diversion and Services. Atlanta would retain rights of first refusal and a first purchase option, for up to 50 years, before Fulton could sell the property to a third party.
The Council had postponed action on the sale for two weeks on October 5. Fulton County says it needs the facility to ease overcrowding at its Rice Street jail and has estimated the center needs about $75 million in upgrades. City Chief Financial Officer Muhamed Ralla wrote that the $68 million could go into the city's fund balance or pay for one-time related projects, and that annual operating costs for the city's retained corrections unit would fall from the center's current roughly $30 million budget to between $10 million and $12 million.
Sources: Atlanta City Council committee minutes, reviewed by NickO Report; Atlanta Focal
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Photo: 图：Atlanta 市政厅。图片来源：Marc Merlin，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0。Photo: Atlanta City Hall. Image: Marc Merlin, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
