State tax credits can help fund local law enforcement

Aug. 17—MOULTRIE — Georgia tax-payers can further support the Colquitt County Sheriff Office and Moultrie Police Department with donations through each agency's foundations.

The donations will turn into state tax credits when the donor files his income taxes after the end of the year.

State of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Law Enforcement Strategic Support (or LESS Crime Act) into law in 2022. The bill allows individual taxpayers and businesses to receive a tax credit for donations made to qualified law enforcement foundations.

Jeffery Sewell, a certified public accountant with Vines, Wear & Mangum, L.L.P., spoke to law enforcement personnel and local residents about the tax credit during an informational session Wednesday afternoon.

He told attendees that the tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar contribution to a qualified Law Enforcement Foundation for what an individual would owe to the State of Georgia.

"It will not cost you anything, but will benefit our local officers," Sewell said.

Now, local residents can allocate up to $5,000 as a single filer or up to $10,000 as married joint filers. A corporation can donate up to 75% of its state tax liability. The Colquitt County Sheriff's Office and the Moultrie Police Department have each established separate non-profit foundations that residents can allocate funds to.

MPD Chief Sean Ladson explained the funds could be used to supplement, lease or purchase equipment, to provide a two-time bonus for staff who are already in law enforcement and to offset any accrued costs within a co-responder unit, but agencies cannot use the donated funds to hire more officers or deputies.

The donations will not replace any of the current MPD or CCSO budget but will make extra funds available to the agencies.

Sewell explained a process for the tax credit:

* Go to the Georgia Tax Center website at https://gtc.dor.ga.gov/_/#0. If you don't already have an account, click Sign up. He suggested applicants have their most recent tax return files available to answer questions on the online form.

* Next, complete the pre-approval application and then wait for about 30 days to receive an approval response letter.

* After approval, applicants must make a payment to their selected foundation within 60 days. The foundation representative will give the taxpayer a form that will need to be filed with their tax return.

Taxpayers can delegate their tax dollars to any available qualified law enforcement foundations. For instance, a person can delegate a percentage of the tax credit to multiple foundations as long as they don't exceed the cap amount for their specified filing status.

The Moultrie Police Department Foundation and the Colquitt County Sheriff's Office Foundation each have a Board of Directors.

Ladson serves as the MPD Foundation's executive director. He said a city council member (currently Cecil Barber) will serve as an assistant executive director, and the treasurer will be the City of Moultrie finance director, which is currently Tina Coleman. Two community members and two MPD staff will serve as members on the voting board. The executive director will have no voting power to the money delegations.

The Board of Directors for the CCSO Foundation includes Sheriff Rod Howell (President), Dr. Gary Swartzentruber, Lt. Col. Paul Nagy, Mike Boyd (treasurer), Joe Baker, Griffin Dunn, Lt. Justin Searcy and Lt. Ronald Jordan (secretary). Nagy and Boyd are Colquitt County commissioners, and Searcy and Jordan are sheriff's office employees.

In a later interview Jordan said he's heard several complaints about tax money not being allocated to areas south of Atlanta or Macon.

"This is a remarkable way to keep tax dollars local," he said.

About $3.3 million of the $75 million cap has been pre-approved for the 2023 tax year as of July 31, according to a handout from Sewell.

To learn more about the Colquitt County Sheriff's Office Foundation please contact Lt. Ronald Jordan at ronald.jordan@colquittcountyga.gov.

For more information about the Moultrie Police Department Foundation, please contact MPD Chief Sean Ladson at sean.ladson@moultriega.com.