Sandy Springs residents are among the Fulton County taxpayers who will pay interest on bonds financing a $1.36 billion jail overhaul after a regional authority narrowly approved the deal.

The South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail Authority voted 3-2 on Monday, July 20, to greenlight financing for renovations, additions and improvements to the Fulton County Jail on Rice Street in Atlanta. The vote follows a unanimous resolution the Fulton County Board of Commissioners passed on Wednesday, April 15, authorizing up to $1.363 billion in jail improvement revenue bonds.

Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts confirmed the cost will land on taxpayers.

"Interest on the bonds will be paid by taxpayers," Pitts said after the vote.

Project cost has grown

The jail overhaul began as a $1.1 billion proposal Chairman Pitts presented in August 2025 to address inmate mental and medical health needs and fund Rice Street jail repairs. By the time the Board of Commissioners voted in April 2026, the authorization ceiling had grown to $1,363,000,000, according to agenda item #26-0214. Vice Chair Khadijah Abdur-Rahman moved the resolution, and Pitts seconded it. It passed unanimously.

How much each household will owe is still unknown. J. Clark Boddie, chairman of the jail authority and former mayor of Palmetto, said the project will be phased in as construction starts, so the total obligation won't hit all at once. He described the five-member authority, composed of current and former leaders from Palmetto and Union City, as the "financing vessel" for the project.

Two funding sources identified

Fulton County Chief Financial Officer Sharon Whitmore told WSB-TV that the county has two revenue streams already built into its budget: Tax Allocation District dollars and savings from the county's defined-benefit pension plan obligation that will eventually drop off and return funds to the general budget. The county has not specified when those pension savings begin.

Those sources won't cover everything.

Palmetto Mayor Teresa Thomas-Smith, who voted against the financing, warned the bonds will likely need to be refinanced, adding another fee for taxpayers. She said the process is moving too quickly.

"These bonds will have to be refinanced, likely, which is another fee that is incurred and indebted to the Fulton County taxpayers," Thomas-Smith said. "This is a huge project. We have to make sure that as we do this, we get it right the first time."

What's still unknown

County officials have not released a per-household cost estimate, a construction start date, or a timeline for bond issuance. The bonds may be issued in multiple series over time, according to the resolution's language. No next meeting date for the jail authority has been publicly announced.

Sandy Springs residents who want to weigh in can contact their Fulton County commissioner or attend the next Board of Commissioners meeting. The county has not announced a public comment period specific to the jail project.